Value of sheanut cake as a dietary ingredient for broiler chickens

Sheanut cake (SNC) was investigated for its nutritional quality. Chemical analyses of the cake indicated its overall nutritional value to be low. The crude protein, fat, fibre, ash and nitrogen-corrected metabolisable energy contents were 162.4 g kg^-1 DM, 134.0 g kg^-1 DM, 95.0 g kg^-1 DM, 42.0 g kg^-1 DM, and 7.12 MJ kg^-1 DM, respectively. It contained anti-nutrients such as theobromine and saponin. In a feeding trial, 240 commercial broiler chicks were randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments. The dietary treatments consisted of the control diet, which contained maize as the main cereal source, and three other diets which contained varying levels of SNC (25, 50 and 75 g kg^-1). Food and water were provided ad libitum for a period of 6 weeks. In this study, feed intake and weight gain were both significantly and inversely related with the level of SNC in the diet (r= -0.97 and -0.97, respectively). The level of SNC in the diet was also shown to be strongly correlated with feed conversion ratio (r = 0.96) and with water consumption (r = 0.98). Carcass dressing percentage was strongly influenced by the level of SNC in the diet. Mortality was also affected by the dietary treatments. Changes in physiological status, such as decreased concentration of red blood cells, haemoglobin, haematocrit, and total serum cholesterol were observed in birds fed diets containing high amounts of SNC. SNC could be included in broiler chicken diets at concentrations up to 25 g kg^-1 diet without an adverse effect on performance.