Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Lipid Profile of Broiler Finishers Fed varying Dietary Levels of Ripe and Unripe Garden Egg Meal

The use of vegetables as an alternative to feed ingredient for bird is gaining attention due to the cost of feed. The study was conducted to evaluate the nutritive value of ripe and unripe garden egg meal on finisher broiler chickens. A total of one hundred and fifty ANAK breed four weeks old were obtained from commercial hatchery with an average body weight of 0.83 ± 0.12 kg. They were randomly divided into five dietary treatment groups (T1: control diet 0% edible and ripe garden egg meal, T2: 5% edible garden egg meal, T3: 10% edible garden egg meal, T4: 5% ripe garden egg meal and T5: 10% ripe garden egg meal). The experiment was conducted for a period of four weeks. The daily feed consumption, body weight gain, carcass performance and lipid profile were measured. There was no significant difference between the average final weights of the treatment groups compared to the control. However, T3 was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced. For the daily weight gain, average daily weight gain, daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio, feed efficiency and mortality, no significant difference was observed among treatment groups. The carcass characteristics showed no significant (p > 0.05) difference between the treatment groups across the parameters except the residual weight which showed significant (p < 0.05) reduction in T3 compared to the control group. The liver, serum and breast meat lipid profile of the treatment groups showed significant (p < 0.05) difference between the treatment groups. The study suggests that supplementing broiler diets with 2.73% inclusion of edible garden egg and 5.1% of ripe garden egg meals in broilers diets have a variety of growth-promoting effects and suppress lipogenesis in finishing broiler. Practical Applications : This study reveals that both ripe and unripe garden egg are good supplement in the formulation of broiler chicken feed because it shows a better growth performance with lowest conversion ration without adverse side effect on the health of the chicken. However, the observed benefits can be achieved without compromising growth performance of broiler chicken only with the incorporation of 2.73% inclusion of unripe garden egg meal and up to 5.1% inclusion of ripe garden egg meal.