Evaluation of Two-Stage Cooked <i>Canavalia plagiosperma</i> (Piper) Seed Meal as Feed Ingredient in Layer Diets

Abstract

The evaluation of two-stage cooked Canavalia plagiosperma seed meal as feed ingredient in layers diets was carried out using two hundred and seventy (270) Shika brown layers that were four months in lay. Two-stage cooked Canavalia plagiosperma seed meal was used to formulate layers diets at 0, 10 and 20% dietary levels, respectively. The two hundred and seventy (270), Shika brown layers, were divided into three groups of 90 birds each and randomly assigned to the three dietary treatments in a Completely Randomized Design. Each group was further subdivided into three replicates of thirty (30) birds per replicate. The experiment lasted for 90-days. There was significant (P<0.05) difference in body weight gain of the layers but no significant (P>0.05) differences in feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg weight, Hen-day production, shell thickness, yolk index and yolk colour among the treatment groups. It is evident therefore that two-stage cooking reduced the level of anti nutritional factors in raw Canavalia plagiosperma seed meal hence the comparable performance of layers on diets containing the test material and the group on the control diet. The results of this experiment suggests that Two-stage cooked Canavalia plagiosperma seed meal can be incorporated into layers ration at 20% level without adverse effect on the performance of the birds.

Keywords: Canavalia plagiosperma, seed meal, layer, ingredient