Phytochemical and Nutritional Evaluation of Raw and Fermented Alchornea cordifolia seed meals on the performance of Broiler Chicks.

Abstract

Phytochemical and feeding values of raw and fermented Alchornea cordifolia seed meals\xa0were investigated. Raw and fermented seed meals were screened for some phytochemical\xa0compounds and also tested on the performance of starter broilers. The meals were included\xa0in broiler starter diets at 10% raw and, 10 and 20% fermented, respectively. The diets were\xa0fed from 0-28 days of age. Raw Alchornea seed meal contains phytic acids, tannins,\xa0saponins, cardiac glycosides, steroids, flavnoids, alkaloids and anthraquinone. Fermenting\xa0the seed meal caused 56.2% reduction in the phytic acid content and totally eliminated its\xa0anthraquinone content. With 10% raw Alchornea seed meal, broilers grew significantly\xa0slower, gained 60.1% of control but feed intake was not statistically different. Inclusion of\xa010% fermented meal resulted in better weight gain, and feed conversion ratio than the raw\xa0seed meal and by 28-days, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not\xa0statistically different from the control. At 20% dietary level, fermented Alchornea seed meal,\xa0promoted much better growth and efficiency than raw but the values were less (p<0.05) than\xa0control. It is concluded therefore that fermentation partially destroyed the anti-nutritional\xa0factors present in Alchornea seeds; thus allowing successful use of 10% fermented seed meal\xa0in starter broiler rations. Higher level of the fermented seed meal reduced performance\xa0although the result was much better than in the raw seed meal.\xa0 Keywords: Alchornea seed, fermentation, toxic factors, broilers, performance