Nutritional Value of Sandbox (Hura Crepitans) Seed Meal for Broiler Finisher Birds

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted for 21-day to evaluate the nutritional value of raw and cooked Sand box (Hura crepitans) seed meal for broiler finisher  birds. Sand box seeds were divided into two batches, the first batch was processed raw undicorticated, the second batch was cooked for 60 minutes also undicorticated, sun dried for 48 hours and milled into a meal, decanted (with ethanol 98%) and sun-dried again for another 48 hours. processed sand box meals were used to formulate five broiler finisher diets at 0%, 10% and 15% dietary levels respectively. Each diet was fed to forty-five, 5-week- old broiler finisher birds for 21 days. Data were collected on feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion Ratio and internal organ characteristics At the end of the experiment, there were significant difference (P<0.05) in body weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio among the treatment groups. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the relative organ characteristics among the treatment groups. The results of these studies suggested that sand box (Hura crepitans) Seed meal could enhance the performance of broiler finisher at 10% (raw or cooked) dietary levels.