Effect of fermented cottonseed meal on growth performance and carcass traits in broiler chicken

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of dietary inclusion of fermented cottonseed meal (FCSM) on growth performance and carcass traits in broiler chicken up to 42 days of age. A total of 160, day-old broiler chicks were randomly allotted into five dietary treatment groups, viz. T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 with four replicates having eight bird each, in a completely randomised design. The birds in the control group (T1) were fed with standard broiler ration formulated as per BIS (2007). The diets in groups T2 to T5 were formulated by inclusion of five per cent cottonseed meal (CSM), five per cent FCSM (T3), 10 per cent FCSM (T4) and 15 per cent FCSM (T5), respectively. All the experimental diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Fermentation of CSM significantly (p<0.05) increased its moisture, crude protein and total ash content and reduced dry matter and crude fibre content. The mean body weight, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio of broilers in different treatment groups at sixth week of age did not differ significantly. The carcass characteristics at sixth week also did not differ significantly among treatments, except ready to cook yield per cent which was significantly (p<0.05) higher in FCSM groups. The highest net profit per kilogram body weight was obtained in 10 per cent FCSM group (T4 group), followed by T3, T5, T2 and T1.