CARCASS TRAITS AND HAEMATOLOGY OF BROILER FINISHER CHICKENS FED DIETS CONTAINING MAIZE OFFAL SUPPLEMENTED WITH RAXOZYME G® AS REPLACEMENT FOR WHEAT OFFAL

Résumé

A twenty-one days feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the carcass traits and haematology of finisher broiler chickens fed dietary levels of enzyme-supplemented (Raxozyme G 10g/kg) maize offal (ESMO) as replacement for wheat offal. Five diets were formulated in which ESMO replaced wheat offal at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% levels, coded as diets 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. A total of three hundred finisher broiler chickens weighing between 922.27 and 1010.16g were randomly allotted to five treatments, replicated thrice in a completely randomized design. Each replicate contained 20 birds. Data was collected for carcass yield, organs‘ relative weights and haematological indices. Results showed that dressing percentage (69.31. 74.08%) was higher (P<0.05) on diets containing enzyme-supplemented maize offal. Similarly, organ weights as percentage of live weight, were significantly (P<0.05) affected for spleen (0.12 – 0.20%), abdominal fat (1.47 – 2.48%) and liver (1.37 – 1.67%). Values obtained for haematological parameters however, revealed that Packed Cell Volume (22.28 – 26.98%), haemoglobin (7.12 – 8.88g/dl) and Mean Corpuscular Volume (35.95 – 49.17 fl), were significantly (P<0.05) higher on diets 1 and 5. It was therefore concluded that replacing wheat offal with Raxozyme G-supplemented maize offal at 75% level in finisher broiler chickens improves dressing percentage without compromising haematological status.