MORPHOMETRIC PROFILE OF FINISHER BROILER FED DIETARY LEVELS OF ASH-TREATED Parkia biglobosa HULL (ATPBH).

Abstract

A twenty-one (21) day feeding trial was conducted to investigate the morphometric profile of finisher broiler-fed dietary levels of ash-treated Parkia biglobosa hull (ATPBH). A total of 63 broiler birds at three weeks of age were allocated in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) to three (3) treatments of three (3) replicates each. Three on-farm formulated diets were compounded such that ATPBH replaced 0%, 25%, and 50% of Palm Kernel Cake (PKC) in T1, T2, and T3, respectively. Each treatment had twenty-one (21) birds replicated three times to have seven (7) birds/replicate. Data collected were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the aid of SPSS, where a significant difference was observed, and the means were compared using Least Significance Difference (LSD). Most of the parameters measured were not significantly (P> 0.05) different except for Back length and Thigh length (P< 0.05). The results observed for body length, back length, thigh length, shank length, wing length, breast girth, bird length, and back length ranged from 11.02 - 11.26cm, 7.71 - 8.18cm, 4.90 - 5.18cm, 2.77 - 2.88cm, 3.88 - 4.07cm, 11.21 - 11.70cm, 12.43 - 12.83cm and 1.44 - 1.45cm, respectively. It was concluded that 50% ATPBH gave a similar (P> 0.05) best result for back length and thigh length as the control. The inclusion of 50% ATPBH as a replacement for Palm Kernel cake in the diets of finisher broiler birds was recommended for the body morphometric profile of broiler birds