PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND BIOCHEMICAL PROFILES OF BROILER CHICKENS FED DRIED BAKERY WASTE BASED-DIETS

Abstract

Maize is a staple food for man and confectionary industry; thus, there is a high competition for maize, which invariably leads to increase in the cost of this product since Bread waste is a by-product of the bakery industry that is made from flour, which is a product obtained from dehulled wheat (Triticum aestusum). Because bread waste is not consumed by man, it is always been disposed as waste. Therefore; there is the need to explore other means of reducing cost spent on maize, hence this study was carried out to assess the growth performance, carcass characteristics, biochemical and haematological profiles of broiler chickens fed dried bakery waste (DBW) based diets. A total of 240 day old chicks were randomly assigned to six dietary treatments of 40 birds per treatment and 10 birds per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design experiment. The experiment was in two phases: the starter phase (from day-old to 4weeks of age) and the finisher phase (from 5wk to 8 wk of age). Two diets (starter and finisher) were formulated to meet the nutrient requirements of broiler chickens. At each phase, maize was replaced with DBW at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% in the formulated ration. Data were collected on feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio. At the end of the finisher phase, 2 birds per replicate containing 8 birds per treatment were randomly selected, tagged, weighed and slaughtered for blood samples collection which were later analysed for haematological variables and biochemical indices and carcass characteristics. At the starter phase, final live weight, total weight gain, total feed intake, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) influenced by the levels of feeding bakery waste. The average final weight and average total weight at the inclusion level of 30, 40 and 50% were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different from other inclusion levels including the control. However, the total feed intake and daily feed intake were significantly different (p ≤ 0.05) from control but level 10 and 30% were not significantly (p ≥ 0.05) different to each other. The finisher phase indicates that all the parameters measured were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) influenced by the levels of feeding bakery waste but the average final weight of the birds and the feed conversion ratio were not significantly (p ≥ 0.05) different between levels (30, 40 and 50%). The results show that there were significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences between the thighs, drumsticks, wings, shanks, heads, chests and backs. Organs showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) difference in the spleen, gizzard and proventriculus. However, the values for liver, heart, kidney, lungs and pancreas were similar across the treatments (P ≥ 0.05). Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant (P ≥0.05) effect of dried bakery wastes on all the haematological parameters and some biochemical parameters determined in this study, except the total protein, albumin, globulin and alkaline phosphate. It was concluded that dried bakery waste up to 50% level of inclusion in the feed of broiler chickens at the finisher phase did not have any harmful effect on the haematological and biochemical profiles of broiler chickens and replacement at this levels will also reduce the cost of production because of the proportion of maize in the diet that have been substantially reduced.