The Effect of Biodegraded Sweet Orange (Citrus Sinensis) Fruit Peel on the Growth and Economic Performance of Starter Broiler Chicks

A twenty-eight (28) day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of the use of cattle rumen content (RC) for the biodegradation of fresh sweet orange peels (SOP) on its maize replacement value in broiler starter diet. Two hundred and sixteen (216) Marshal broiler chicks, randomly allocated to six (6) dietary treatments were used. Each treatment had three (3) replicates and each replicate had twelve (12) randomly allocated to the experimental pens. The experiment was completely randomized design. Five (5) different biodegraded sweet orange peels (BSOP) T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 were obtained after mixing sweet orange peels and rumen content w/w in ratio 1 SOP: 0.1 RC, 1 SOP: 0.2 RC, 1 SOP: 0.3 RC, 1 SOP: 0.4 RC and 1 SOP: 0.5 RC, respectively and, each was put in tied polythene bag, left to ferment for 48 h and sun dried to about 10% moisture. Each of T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 was used to replace maize at 20% level in the control diet (D1) to obtain diets D2, D3, D4, D5 and D6, respectively. The experimental diets and drinking water were served ad libitum, and growth performance and economic indices determined. The result showed that, the broiler chicks in the control diet (D1) had significantly (p<0.05) better growth performance in body weight, weight gain, FCR, protein intake and protein efficiency ratio than the chicks in the BSOP dietary treatments. Chicks in group D6 had a superior growth performance in body weight, weight gain, FCR, protein intake, and protein efficiency ratio, among the sweet orange peel based diets. Chicks in D1 had a significantly (p<0.05) higher total cost of production ($2.55), followed by D6 ($2.43) and D3 had the least ($2.34) with proportionate growth rate. It is recommended that sweet orange peel (SOP) can be treated with cattle rumen content (RC) in the ratio of 1 SOP: 0.5 RC w/w, and used to replace 20% maize in broiler starter diets for growth and economic benefits.

Keywords: Biodegraded sweet orange peels, broiler chicks, growth, economic performance.