Effect of Dietary Replacement of Soyabean Meal with Toasted Sesame Seed on Performance, Tibia Bone Mineralisation and Gut Morphology of Broilers Chicken

Aims: This experiment was conducted to assess the effect of dietary replacement of soybean meal with toasted Sesame seed on performance, tibia bone mineralization and gut morphology of broiler chicken.

Study Design: The design of the study was a completely randomized design.

Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was carried out at Poultry Unit, Teaching and Research Farm of University of Ibadan, Nigeria and lasted for 8 weeks.

Methodology: A total of 150 one-day old broiler birds were randomly allotted into 5 experimental treatments with 3 replicates each (10 birds per replicate) in a completely randomized design. Toasted sesame seed supplemented with 600 ppm microbial phytase was replaced in the dietary treatments at 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% for Soyabean meal both at the starter and finisher phases.

Feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured and calculated weekly throughout the experimental period. Six birds per treatment were selected at the end of the experiment, the birds were then slaughtered by cervical dislocation and the two tibia bones were removed and cleaned of all adhering muscle and cartilaginous caps for tibia bone mineralization, section of ileum and jejunum tissues were also collected for gut morphological parameters. All data obtained were analyzed with one way ANOVA using SAS 1990 software at 5% probability level while means were compared using Duncan Multiple Range Test.

Results: There were significant (P<0.05) differences in the performance characteristics across the treatments with birds fed 10% TSS having the highest weight gain of 54.36g/bird/day compared to the control of 38.71g/bird/day (0%TSS). The FCR in birds fed 10% TSS (1.62) and 20% TSS (1.72) revealed a better feed utilisation compared to birds fed diet 5 which recorded the highest FCR value of 3.72.The concentration of Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe and PO4 in the tibia were significantly (P<0.05) different across the treatments. The villus height was highest in treatment 4(5930.2 µm) and the least in the control (2456.5 µm) in the ileum but in the jejunum, the control was the highest (4292.6 µm) and least in treatment 2 (2859.5 µm). Crypt depth were significantly (P<0.05) different across the treatments in both the ileum (1736.36 – 836.34 µm) and jejunum (1269 – 605.5 µm).

Conclusion: It can therefore be concluded that replacement of Soybean meal with toasted Sesame seed up to 20% inclusion level in broiler ration results in better performance and improved health condition of broiler birds.