ORIGINAL PAPER
A note on the use of breadfruit meal (Artocarpus
incisus) as a feed ingredient for broiler chickens
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Department of Animal Science,
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology,
Kumasi, Ghana
Publication date: 2002-05-09
J. Anim. Feed Sci. 2002;11(2):321-329
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Breadfruit meal (BFM) (Artocarpus incisus) was evaluated as a poultry feed ingredient in a pilot
study. Diets containing 0, 25, 50 and 75 g BFM kg-1 were fed, ad libitum, to 240 day-old broiler
chickens for a period of 8 weeks. Birds had free access to water. Performance criteria studied included
feed intake, growth rate, efficiency of feed utilization, mortality, carcass and blood parameters. The
concentration of BFM in the diet had significant negative influence on feed consumption (r =-0.96).
Breadfruit meal at 25 and 50 g kg-1 slightly improved the growth and feed utilization of broilers. At
75 g kg-1 diet, BFM depressed weight gain although not significantly, but feed utilization was similar
as in the control group. The level of BFM had no significant impact on carcass yield, mortality, or
blood parameters. The kidney, heart, liver and gizzard weights of broilers were also unaffected by the
addition of BFM in diets. Breadfruit meal could be included in broiler chickens' diet at concentrations
up to 50 g kg-1 without an adverse effect on performance