Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Carcass Characteristics and Organoleptic Properties of Broiler Chicken Fed Cocoa Bean Shell

The high cost of conventional feed ingredients has forced poultry farmers to concentrate on more accessible and reasonably priced alternative feed sources having considerable nutritional potential. One of these alternative feed sources is cocoa bean shell (CBS), which is widely available, inexpensive, and nutritious. There is limited research on the application of fermentation of bovine rumen filtrate on CBS in poultry production. A feeding trial for 56 days was conducted to investigate the dietary effect of rumen filtrate fermented cocoa bean shell (RFCBS) as partial replacement for maize on the performance of broiler chickens. Fresh cocoa bean shell was mixed with rumen filtrate obtained at ratio 1:1, fermented for 24 hours and then dried. The dried fermented cocoa bean shell (FCBS) was incorporated into the experimental diets at varying levels; 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% respectively to formulate five experimental diets. Ross 308 broiler chicks (n=150) were randomly allotted into five treatments groups of thirty (30) birds per treatment and three replicates containing ten birds each in a completely randomized design (CRD). Data on performance indices, hematological, nutrient digestibility, carcass characteristics and sensory evaluation collected during the experiment were subjected to ANOVA at α = 0.05. Results revealed that fermentation method employed had significant influence (P<0.05) on the chemical composition of cocoa bean shell used in this study. The crude protein (CBS: 8.18% – FCBS: 5.10%), ash (CBS: 10.40% - FCBS: 9.08%), nitrogen free extract (CBS: 57.64% - FCBS: 57.07%) content of the cocoa bean shell reduced after being fermented but increased its crude fibre content from 10.27% to 15.26%. It also helped to improve the phytochemical constituents of CBS. Dietary supplementation up to 10 % FCBS had comparable weight gain, feed intake and the best feed conversion ratio. Birds fed 10% FCBS based diet had improved (P<0.05) nutrient digestibility values when compared with other diets. Birds on 0 (2088.89g/b), 5 (2044.44g/b) and 10 (1944.44g/b) % FCBS had similar dressed weight but recorded significantly the highest value. Birds fed 10% FCBS based diet recorded the highest tenderness (8.33), juiciness (8.37), flavour (8.43), colour (8.30), aroma (8.37) and taste (8.00) values. Results indicated that the cost of the feed per kg (#2178.92 - 2229.23) decreased across the dietary treatments as the FCBS increased. It is concluded that FCBS can be incorporated up to 10 % in broiler chickens’ diet for better output in terms of weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, carcass trait sensory evaluation and better health status of the birds.