Cocoa bean cake in poultry diets I. Chemical composition and nutritive value of cocoa bean cake in pullet chick diets

Abstract

Cocoa bean cake (CBC) contained 231 g kg−1 crude protein, 165 g kg−1 ether extract, 57.5 g kg−1 crude fibre, 83.7 g kg−1 ash and 22.4 g kg−1 theobromine. 180 commercial pullet starter chicks were randomly allocated to one of 6 dietary treatments consisting of control diet which contained groundnut cake as the main plant protein source and 5 other diets in which CBC supplied 50, 100, 200, 300 and 400 g kg−1 of total dietary protein. Feed and water were provided ad libitum for a period of 9 weeks. Daily feed intake and weight gain decreased as dietary CBC protein increased. The level of CBC in the diet was strongly correlated with feed efficiency (r=0.92) and liver weight (r=0.71) but inversely related to heart weight (r=0.90) and kidney weight (r=0.83). Significant differences (P<0.05) exhibited by blood characteristics showed that PCV, Hb and RBC tend to decrease with increasing level of CBC. The efficiency of feed utilisation allowed CBC to be included in chick starter diets at concentrations up to 200 g kg−1 diet. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.