Abstract:
Two hundred and eighty one-day unsexed Arbor-acres broiler chicks were used to investigate the effect of treated and untreated Shea Nut Cake (SNC) on broiler performance. Shea cake is a by-product obtained by extraction of Shea butter from the nuts of the Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa). The birds were allowed to seven dietary treatments replicated four times with 10 birds for each. Two diets were formed a starter diet for three weeks and finisher diets for three weeks. Three types of SNC in three inclusion rates (zero, 10 and 20%) were used in this study crude (untreated), SNC treated by 0.01M NaOH solution and SNC fermented by yeasts as follows: (T1) contained 0 % SNC, T2 and T3 contained 10% and 20% untreated SNC respectively, T4 and T5 contained NaOH treated SNC 10, 20% respectively and T6 and T7 contained 10 and 20 % yeast fermented SNC. The treated and untreated SNC samples were analyzed to determine the nutrient contents according to the method described by AOAC (1990). The tannin concentration of SNC was determined according the method described by Agbo and Prah (2014). The birds fed 10% of SNC had better performance than those fed on 20%. And the birds fed on treated SNC perform better than those fed on untreated SNC.
Keywords: Tannin, anti-nutritional factor, yeast
