Performance of finisher broilers fed diets containing orange pulp meal with or without non-starch polysaccharides enzyme supplementation

Abstract

A 28-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the performance of finisher broilers fed diets containing orange pulp meal (OPM) supplemented with non-starch polysaccharides multi- enzyme (Roxazyme G2). The orange pulps were gathered from fruit juice industry, sun- dried, milled and analysed for proximate composition prior to the feed formulation. Five broiler finisher diets were formulated with diet 1 serving as control. Diets 2 and 3 contained the OPM, replacing maize at 15 and 30% in the control diet. Diets 4 and 5 with similar composition as diets 2 and 3 were supplemented with 0.5g/Kg, Roxazyme enzyme G2G^R. Two hundred and twenty five (225), 28-days old broiler chicks used for the experiment were distributed into 5 groups of 45 chicks per group.  The groups were randomly assigned to the five experimental diets and fed for 28 days.  At the end of the feeding trial, four birds per treatment were slaughtered for carcass and internal organs evaluation. The results revealed that birds fed control and treatment diets did not vary significantly in their average daily feed intake and weight gain. Birds on diets with enzyme supplementation had superior feed conversion ratio (2.64 and 2.60 for diets 4 and 5, respectively) relative to those fed non enzyme diets. The inclusion of OPM with enzyme supplementation did not affect the carcass and internal organs of the birds adversely, except for liver and intestinal length. Dietary enzyme supplementation also did not increase the cost of feed and the cost of producing a kilogram of meat from poultry. It was concluded that OPM could replace maize at 30% in the broiler finisher diets with or without enzyme supplementation.