Response of Shika Brown Cockerels to Graded Dietary Levels of Lablab purpureus Beans

摘要

This study was conducted to determine the response of Shika Brown cockerels to graded levels of Lablab purpureus beans, processed by boiling in water for 30 min at 100 deg C. Six isonitrogenous diets with similar caloric levels were formulated to contain lablab seed meal at 0.0, 7.5, 15.0, 22.5, 30.0 and 37.5%, respectively. Diet 1, which had no lablab seeds and served, as the control, was a groundnut cake-maize based chick diet. Each diet served as a treatment and each treatment was replicated threetimes in a completely randomized design. There were 30 birds per replicate making a total of 540 birds for the study. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. The experiment lasted 8 weeks. The results obtained showed significant (p<0.05) negative responses of the cockerels to dietary levels of lablab. It was observed that there was a significant (p<0.05) decrease in final weight and weight gain as the level of lablab in the diet increased. Feed efficiency was observed to decrease significantly (p>0.05) as the level of lablab in the diet increased. Mortality was not however significantly (p>0.05) affected by feeding lablab in the diet of the cockerels. Feed cost (H/bird) and total cost (N/bird) were significantly reduced (p<0.05) as the dietary levelsof lablab seed increased. Also organ weights and haematological parameters were not significantly (p>0.05) affected by feeding graded dietary levels of cooked Lablab purpureus beans in the diets of Shika brown cockerels.