Utilisation of Frog (Rana esculanta) Meal as a Replacement for Fish meal in Broiler Diets

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of graded levels of frog meal as replacement for fish meal at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% on the performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens in a 42-day feeding trial. One hundred and eighty seven-day-old Arbor acre broiler chicks were randomly allotted to 5 dietary treatments in a completely randomised design. Each diet had 6 replicates with 6 birds each. At week 5, two birds per replicate were placed in metabolic cages for a 3-day excreta collection for digestibility determination. At week 6, same sets of birds from each replicate were sacrificed, the digestive tract excised and digesta samples were collected at the terminal ileum. Also, two birds from each replicate were slaughtered by cutting through the jugular vein for carcass characteristics and organs were harvested and weighed. Results showed that there were no significant differences in the final weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio recorded for birds among the treatments. However, the feed intake, protein intake (PI), protein efficiency ratio (PER), ileal and excreta crude protein digestibility of birds were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by the dietary treatments.  Highest feed intake was recorded for birds on 50% Frog Meal (FRM) and 50% Fish Meal (FM), though similar to what was obtained in birds fed other levels of FRM inclusion. Identical PI was recorded for birds on the control diet, 25 and 50% FRM diets and were considerably higher (P<0.05) than PI observed in birds on 75 and 100% FRM. Highest PER (2.21) was observed in birds on 100% FRM diet which was similar to those on 75% FRM inclusion level but least PER (1.99) was recorded for birds on the control diet. Ileal and excreta CP digestibility coefficients of birds on the experimental diets varied significantly (P<0.05). Highest ileal CP digestibility coefficient (0.75) was recorded in birds fed 50% FRM and 50% FM while the least (0.65) value was observed in birds fed 100% FRM. There were no significant differences recorded in the primal cuts and organ weights of birds except for head, drumstick, thighs and shanks. It is concluded that frog meal can replace fish meal up to 100% in broiler diets without adverse effect on performance.