PERFORMANCE OF RATS FED PROCESSED MATURED AND IMMATURED NYPA PALM (Nypa fruiticans) FRUIT NUT MEAL

Abstract

Forty two male weanling albino rats of Wistar strain of six rats per group were randomly allotted to sevenexperimental diets, consisting of a control diet and six other diets of same combinations of nypa palm fruit nut meal. Nypa palm fruit nut meal at two maturity stages and three processing methods provides energy in the formulation to maize in a 2x3 Factorial experiment in a Completely Randomized Design at 100% level of inclusion per diet. The diets were fed to the animals for 3 weeks with feed and water given ad libitum. The result showed that feed intake and feed conversion ratio were significantly different (P<0.05)
among treatment diets, and rats fed the matured sun-dried treatment recorded the highest feed intake of 11.86g. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in weight gain among sample diets. However, rats fed the matured sun-dried sample recorded the highest weight gain of 1.97g and was numerically better compared to the control diet. No mortality was recorded throughout the entire study and this justifies the practical possibility of utilizing nypa palm fruit nut meal as an energy source replacement in diets for monogastric animals.