Feeding of Pigment Extracted Annatto Seed (Bixa orellana) Meal on Broiler Performance Jayawickrama GGIA1, Reddy V. Ravinder2, Reddy V. Rajasekhar Department of Poultry ScienceCollege of Veterinary Science, Sri Venkateswara Veterinary UniversityRajendranagar, Hyderabad- 500 030 (A.P.) India 1Assistant Director, Directorate of Animal Husbandry, Govt. of Srilanka.
2Corresponding author, Professor, E-mail: vangoorravinder@yahoo.co.in
ABSTRACT Day old broiler chicks (n=106) were allotted into 5 dietary groups each into 4 replicates of 8 chicks each. Five dietary treatments were designed, incorporating pigment extracted annatto seed meal (ASM) at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% (T, T, T, T and T) replacing maize on iso-nitrogenous 12345 and iso-caloric basis. The individual body weight and feed intake of chicks was recorded weekly. At the end of the trial, 8 birds from each treatment group were selected randomly and continued for nitrogen retention study. The body weight gains on diets up to 50% ASM were comparable with control, however, the higher levels (75, 100%) significantly (P<0.05) decreased the weight gains. Feed intake on diets containing up to 75% ASM were comparable to control, but, on 100% ASM diet it was significantly (P<0.01) low. Feed efficiency was improved at 25% ASM diet and further higher inclusion levels of ASM resulted in poor feed efficiency. Livability of broilers on all ASM diets was normal. Dressing % and weight of visceral organs was affected on different levels of ASM in broiler diets. ASM diets caused poor pigmentation in skin and shank of broilers. Nitrogen retention decreased significantly (P<0.01) at diets beyond 50% ASM. The cost of production per kg live weight up to 50% ASM was comparable with control. The results indicated that ASM could safely be included up to 50% replacing part of maize without significant effect on the economic traits. Top Key words Annatto seed meal, Growth, Carcass characteristics, Economics, Broilers. Top |