Growth Performance and Haematological and Serological Assessment of Broiler Chickens Fed Thermally Processed Prosopis juliflora Pod-based Diets

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of thermally processed Prosopis juliflora pods (PJP) on the growth performance of broiler chickens. Methodology: Two experiments were conducted. In experiment 1, the nutritive value of raw or thermally processed PJP was evaluated through an ileal digestibility assay. Apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and ileal digestibility of crude fibre in the formulated diet (corn, raw and thermally processed PJP) were determined. The second experiment (a growth study) was designed to test the effect of thermal processing on the nutritive value of PJP (p<0.001). Seven dietary treatments were evaluated in experiment 2, namely, the basal diet, three levels of inclusion of raw PJP-based diets (5, 10 and 15%) and three levels of inclusion of processed PJP-based diets (5, 10 and 15%). Results: The results of experiment 1 showed that the AME of processed PJP was higher (24%) than that of raw PJP. The raw PJP had significantly lower AME content (10.16 vs 13.41 and 15.26 MJ kgG¹) and lower apparent ileal digestibility coefficients of crude fibre (0.27 vs 0.46-0.65) compared to processed PJP and corn, respectively (p<0.001). The results of experiment 2, indicated that substitution of corn by 10% processed PJP significantly improved the crude fibre digestibility and AME (p<0.001) compared to the other dietary treatments. The weight gain of birds fed 10% processed PJP (55.13 g/bird/day) was similar to those of birds fed a basal diet (55.68 g/bird/day). Conclusion: Processed PJP can replace corn up to the level of 10% in broilers diets without affecting growth performance.