Growth performance, protein utilization and haemato-biochemical parameters of broilers fed marama bean (Tylosema esculentum) based diets

Abstract This study investigated growth performance, protein utilization and blood parameters in broiler chickens fed diets containing marama bean (MB). Three hundred day-old broiler chicks were randomly allocated to 5 dietary treatments with eight replicates. The chicks were fed commercial starter diets from 1 to 14 days. The experimental diets were offered during the grower and finisher phases. Five isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets with the inclusion of marama bean at 0 (MB0, control), 7 (MB7), 14 (MB14), 21 (MB21) and 28% (MB28) were formulated. From the results, Diets containing marama bean had lower average daily gain (ADG) and higher feed conversion ratios (FCR) compared to the control diet. In both phases, the birds fed diet containing MB7 diet had higher ADG compared with other marama bean containing diets. The birds fed control diet also had high cumulative weight gain followed by the birds fed the MB7 diet. In both feeding phases, protein efficient ratio (PER) and specific growth rate (SGR) were higher in birds fed the control diet followed by those fed MB7 diet. With regards to serum metabolites, birds fed control diet had the highest amounts of calcium, phosphorus and total albumin followed by those fed the MB7 diet. However, total protein, total globulin and cholesterol were higher in the birds fed MB7 compared to the control. Higher values for alkaline transferase (ALT) were obtained in all diets containing marama bean compared with the control. In conclusion, inclusion of marama bean meal in diets at 7% provided the optimum performance.