Abstract
Soya bean meal which is the major plant protein source for most livestock diets is very costly because of its high demand by man. Sesame seed meal is less expensive and contains protein this is rich in methionine, cysteine and tryptophan and could be a good replacement for soya bean in broiler diets. Ninety-six day-old unsex broiler chicken (ROSS 308 strain) were used to determine the performance and nutrient digestibility of broiler birds fed sesame (Sesamum indicum) seed meal diets. Each treatment was assigned twenty-four (24) birds with three replicates having eight birds in each replicate. Four diets were formulated, diet one (T1) served as the control (diet without sesame seed meal); diet two, three and four (T2, T3, T4) contained sesame seed meal at inclusion levels of 5%, 10% and 15% respectively. Performance parameters measured were live weight, feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and mortality. Six birds per treatment, two from each replicate, were picked on day 48 and moved to the metabolism cages for apparent nutrient digestibility study in a completely randomized design. The experiment lasted for 56 days. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the significant means were separated using the Duncan’s Multiple Range Test. The performance showed no significant (P > 0.05) differences between T1, T2 and T3 in the final live weights (2791.67g, 2591.67g and 2500.00g respectively) but these were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than T4 (2108.33g). This was an indication that higher levels of sesame seed meal depressed performance. The apparent nutrient digestibility showed that crude protein was not significantly different (P > 0.05) among the treatment groups. However, significant differences (P<0.05) existed for dry matter (DM), ether extracts (EE), crude fibre (CF), crude ash (ash), nitrogen free extract (NFE) and gross energy (GE) digestibility coefficients. The apparent digestibility of broiler birds fed diets containing varying levels of sesame seed meal did not show any negative impacts on the nutrient utilization. The use of sesame seed meal as a potential protein source for the production of broiler chickens up to 10% dietary inclusion is therefore recommended.