Performance, Carcass Quality and Organ Characteristics of Broiler Finishers Fed Rumen Epithelial Scrappings Meal (RESM) as Replacement for Fish Meal

Abstract

A 56-day feeding trial involving 105 day old Anak broilers was carried out in a completely randomized design to evaluate, the performance, carcass yield and organ characteristics of broilers fed rumen epithelial scrapping meal (RESM a byproduct of cattle rumen processing that constitutes an environmental pollutant within the abattoir) at dietary levels of 0, 25, 50 75 and 100%. Results show that the feed efficiency of 50, 75 and 100% RESM were superior to the control and 25% inclusion at the starter phase but at the finisher phase the control was superior over the other treatments and the average final weight gain of the control at the finisher phase was superior (P<0.05) over all other treatments though all the birds attained a weight of over 2kg at the end of the 56day trial. The dressing% and eviscerated% of 100% RESM was superior to all other treatments though not (P>0.05) significantly different, while the eviscerated weight (kg) of 25% RESM was superior to all other treatments. The internal organs (% Eviscerated Weight -EW) were all similar except for the heart where the control was significant (P<0.05) over all other treatments while in the cut up parts (% EW) there was no significant difference (P>0.05) among the parts such as wing, head, drum stick, thigh weight, breast weight, except the back weight where the control, 25%, and 50% show significant difference (P<0.05) over the other treatments, though the control and 50% showed similarity to 75 and 100% treatment levels. Overall, no particular trend emerged indicating that RESM could be used to replace fishmeal without any adverse effect both to the birds and the final consumers since it is consumed in some parts of the count