Potentials of 4% NaOH Treated Rice Husk Meal as Feed Ingredient in Finisher Broilers Diet

Rice husk treated with 4 % NaOH was used to replace Brewers Dried Grain (BDG) in a 4 diet treatment trial. The control (T1) contained no treated rice husk while the treated rice husk replaced BDG at 33.33 %, 66.67 % and 100 % for T2, T3 and T4 respectively. The diets were assigned to 120 broilers of 28 days old in a complete randomized design of 10 broilers each replicated 3 times. Data were collected on their performance for 28 days. After which, the carcass, organ, hematology and biochemical parameters were examined. For the performance, the body weight gain of the broilers were similar (P greater than 0.05) while the control had a significantly (P less than 0.05) lower value in daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The carcass parameters were similar except in vent and gizzard. All the hematological parameters were similar (P greater than 0.05) while the biochemical parameters had a significant effect in cholesterol, alkaline phosphatase and alanine aminotransferase. The cholesterol level dropped within the groups with T1 being 78.74mmol/l, while T2, T3 and T4 were 52.69mmol/l, 49.10mmol/l and 35.90mmol/l respectively. No mortality was recorded. The study recommends that 4 % NaOH treated rice husk can replace BDG in finisher broiler diet.