Effects of Substituting Sunflower Seed Cake with Copra Cake on Growth Performance and Economic Value of Broiler

An experiment to determine the effects of substituting sunflower seed cake with copra cake on growth performance and cost value of broilers was conducted at Sokoine University of Agriculture. A total of 260 broilers were assigned to five dietary treatments designated as (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5), containing 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60% of copra cake, respectively. The experimental diets were fed for 6 weeks i.e. 8-49 days of age. During the experiment the birds were group fed and feed intake was measured daily whereas live weight changes were measured weekly. After seven weeks; 12 chickens from each treatment were slaughtered and carcass yield and dressing percentage were determined. Proximate analysis of the individual feed ingredients and experimental diets was done. The results showed that Crude protein (CP) and metabolizable energy (ME) were not significantly different between the treatments. Dry matter intake (DM) was significantly lower for T4 and T5 during the 3rd and 4th week of the experiment. Total DM intake per bird was lowest for T4 (3354.9g) and highest for T2 (3926.2g). FCR and FER in T4 were significantly lower (1.95) and higher (0.52) respectively. Significant differences on growth performance were observed, with higher cumulative weight gain in T1 (1870.1g) and lower for T5 (1704.4g). However, dietary treatment had no significant effect on carcass yield and dressing percentage except for the liver. When cost was correlated to return from marketable bird it was shown that highest gross margins were obtained from T4. From the current study it was concluded that copra cake can replace sunflower seedcake meal up to 45% without affecting the performance of birds.