Animal response trials aimed at investigating the effect of different levels of mango fruit
waste (MFW) on growth performance and carcass characteristics of Cobb-500 broiler
chickens were carried out. One-hundred sixty day-old chicks with similar body weight were randomly distributed to four treatment diets each with four replications. The four
treatments were T1 (100% maize + 0% MFW), T2 (90% maize + 10 % MFW), T3 (80%
maize + 20% MFW) and T4 (70% maize + 30% MFW). The experiment was conducted for 7 weeks, during which feed intake and body weight were measured. At the end of the experimental period, 2 chicks from each replication were randomly selected and slaughtered to evaluate the effect of MFW on carcass yields. The average individual daily feed intake was 65.3, 65.6, 70.8 and 66.9 g for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. At the age of 7 weeks, chicks fed on T1, T2, T3 and T4 diets had individual body weights of 1178, 1165, 1066 and 860 g, respectively. Average daily individual weight gain for the respective T1, T2, T3 and T4, was 21.0, 17.6, 16.0 and 13.7 g. The feed conversion ratio (g feed/g gain) was 3.49, 3.96, 4.50 and 5.23 g for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. The dressing percentage of T1, T2, T3 and T4 was 58.6, 62.1, 65.1 and 65.9, respectively. No significance differences were observed in all carcass traits between chickens fed on control diet and treatment diets. Chickens fed on control diet had significantly higher abdominal fat than those of treatment diets. Higher mortality rate was noted in T1 (10%) followed by T2 (2.5%). No mortalities were observed in those chickens fed on T3 and T4 diets. Mango fruit waste can be incorporated up to 20% of the diets of grower broiler chickens without affecting nutrient intake and growth.
