Short communication: Estimation of metabolizable and digestible energy of Ramon (Brosimum alicastrum Swartz) seed in broilers under tropical conditions

Abstract The objective of this study was to estimate the apparent metabolizable energy (AME), true metabolizable energy (TME), their digestible coefficients, as well as the apparent ileal digestible energy (AIDE) and apparent ileal digestible coefficient (AIDC) of Ramon (Brosimum alicastrum Sw.) seed meal (RSM). Two experiments were performed using Cobb broilers, in the first experiment, eight birds from a total of 24 broilers (twelve 3-week-old and twelve 6-week-old) were randomly selected for determination of endogenous losses (EL). The sixteen remaining were tube-fed a single dose of RSM and total excreta collection was used. In the second experiment, three diets (100% maize; 40% RSM-60% maize and 60% RSM-40% maize) were made to determine the AIDE and AIDC of each ingredient using the difference method by incorporating titanium dioxide (TiO2) at 5 g/kg. Diets were randomly assigned to a total of 51 7-week-old broilers, distributed in 6, 6 and 5 replicates respectively (three broilers per replicate). No age effect (p > 0.05) was found for both AME (1863 and 1909 kcal/kg for 3 and 6 weeks, respectively) and TME (2234 and 2271 kcal/kg, for 3 and 6 weeks, respectively) of the RSM. The AIDE and AIDC of RSM at 40 and 60% inclusion (2408 and 2538 kcal/kg, and 0.64 and 0.67, respectively) were found to be lower (p < 0.05) than that of maize (3179 kcal/kg and 0.81). It was concluded that the main factor contributing to the decrease in AME, TME, AIDE and AIDC values for RSM was the difference between the chemical composition of this feedstuff and maize, as they have almost the same starch amounts.