Evaluation of fermented locust bean meal (Parkia biglobosa) as replacement to soybean meal on production performance, blood profile and gut morphology of broiler chicken

Abstract

An eight week feeding trial was carried out on the evaluation of fermented locust bean meal (FLBM) Parkia biglobosa as replacement to soybean meal (SBM) in broiler production. Ninety day old broilers were allotted randomly to three treatment diets and each replicated thrice. Diets I (control) contained 0% FLBM while diets II and III had 50 and 100% FLBM inclusion as replacement of soybean meal in both starter and finisher phases. At starter phase, results revealed body weight of bird were not significant, the feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and mortality of birds on diet II were lower and significantly (P<0.05) different from others. At the finisher level the weight gain of broilers fed diet III were higher significantly (P<0.05) while birds fed diet II had the best feed conversion ratio significantly (P<0.05) as compared to other diets. The packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin, red blood cell and platelets of birds fed diet II were higher significantly (P<0.05) as compared to those fed diets I and III and are within standard range for healthy birds. Blood serum showed that the glucose, aspartate transaminase, cholesterol and creatinine of those fed diet III were significantly (P<0.05) higher than others. The gut morphology revealed that the liver, lungs, intestine, gizzard and heart of those fed diets II and III were significantly (P<0.05) similar and smaller than those on control with no traces of inflammation. Conclusively, FLBM could replace SBM in broiler diet without adverse effect on the production performance, 50% inclusion level of FLBM with SBM is recommended in broiler production