Abstract:
A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary inclusion of mango seed kernel on growth performances (feed intake, body weight gain), feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics, mortality percentages and partial budget analysis of broiler chicks at various levels of Mango Seed Kernel (MSK) as energy supplement at Haramaya University poultry farm.168 broiler chicks with average body weight 45.17±1.08g/b/d (mean ±SD) were randomly distributed to four treatments each with three replications in completely randomized design. At the end of experiment, four broilers from each sex picked up from each replication and slaughtered for carcass evaluation. The four treatment diets used were ration contain 0% MSK (T1), 5% MSK (T2), 10% MSK (T3) and 15% MSK (T4) of MSK to replace maize.MSK contains 8.01% CP and 3675.5 ME Kcal/kg DM.The average daily feed intake during entire period was 121.20, 129.5, 133.5 and 124.68 g/bird/day for T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively and there was higher (P<0.05) feed intake recorded for T2 and T3 as compared to T1 and T4.The average body weight gain during entire period was 46.39,48.02 48.21 and 47.29 for T1,T2,T3 and T4 respectively in which significantly higher (P<0.05) for T3 as compared to T1,T2 and T4 and better for T3 as compared to T1,T2 and T4.The feed conversion ratio during entire period was 2.61,2.70,2,76 and 2.63 for T1,T2,T3 and T4 respectively, and higher for T3 as compared to T1,T2 and T4.Eviscerated carcass weight was 1452.59,1413.21,1534.54 and 1318.50 for T1,T2,T3 and T4 respectively, higher for T3 as compared to T1,T2 and T4.There was significant differences (P<0.05) in serum cholesterol concentratio levels (104, 93.34, 93.52 and 98.4) for T1,T2,T3 and T4 within groups feed different levels of MSK. The percentage of mortality for entire growth period showed no significant differences (P>0.05) among treatment groups which showed that the inclusion of MSK to replace maize in diets of broilers had no adverse effects in survival rate of chicks. The highest net income was recorded for T3 ration followed by T2 and marginal rate of return income was obtained for T3 ration followed by T2.Based on the result of the experiment, it can be concluded that inclusion of mango seed kernel for maize at the 10% in broiler chicks’ diets improved overall performance of broilers.
