Abstract
A study was conducted to see the effect of dietary incorporation of alkali (1.5% NaOH, w/w) processed solvent extracted karanj cake (SKC) supplemented with methionine on growth performance, humoral immune response and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens from 0 to 8 weeks of age. One hundred and twenty, day- old broiler chicks were wing banded, vaccinated against Marek' disease and distributed in a completely randomized design (CRD) into 3 groups of 40 chicks each, which was further replicated to 4 and fed on diet containing soybean meal and those of test groups were fed diets containing alkali (1.5% NaOH) treated SKC partially replacing soybean meal nitrogen of reference diet (12.5%) without or with supplementation of methionine (0.2%). Individual body weight of chicks and replicate-wise feed intakes were recorded at weekly intervals throughout the experimental period. Feed consumption from 1 to 14, 28, 42 and 56 d of age was recorded for each replicate and feed conversion efficiency (weight gain/feed intake) for the respective period was calculated. Mortality was monitored on daily basis. On 28$^{th}$ day of experimental feeding, two birds of each replicate in each dietary group (8 birds/diet) were inoculated with 0.1 ml of a 1.0% suspension of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and the antibody titre (log 2) was measured after 5 days by the microtitre haemmagglutination procedure. After 42 days of experimental feeding, a retention study of 4 days (43-47 d) duration was conducted on all birds to determine the retention of various nutrients such as DM, N, Ca, P and GE. On 43$^{rd}$ day of experimental feeding, one representative bird from each replicate of a dietary treatment (4/dietary group) was sacrificed, after fasting for two hours with free access to water, through cervical dislocation to observe the weight of dressed carcass, primal cuts (breast, thigh, drumstick, back, neck and wing), giblet (liver, heart and gizzard), abdominal fat and digestive organs. The body weight gain of chicks fed reference diet and those fed diet incorporated with NaOH treated SKC (12.5% replacement) with or without methionine supplementation was comparable during 0 to 4 weeks of age. However, dietary incorporation of alkali processed SKC replacing 12.5% nitrogen moiety of soybean meal resulted in growth retardation, subsequently as evidenced by significantly (p<0.05) lowered body weight gain during 0 to 6 weeks of age in birds fed diet incorporated with alkali processed SKC at 6.43% without methionine as compared to those supplemented with methionine or reference diet. Dietary incorporation of alkali (1.5% NaOH) processed SKC replacing 12.5% of soybean meal nitrogen in the diet of broiler chickens had no adverse effect on feed conversion ratio during all the weeks of experimental feeding. The humoral immune response (HIR) as measured by the antibody titre in response to SRBC inoculation was comparable among all the dietary groups. No significant difference in the intake and retention of DM, N, Ca, P or GE was noted among the chicks fed reference and alkali processed SKC incorporated diets with or without methionine supplementation. None of the carcass traits varied significantly due to dietary variations, except the percent weight of liver and giblet. The percent liver weight was significantly (p<0.05) higher in the birds fed diet incorporated with alkali processed SKC as compared to that in other two groups. Thus solvent extracted karanj cake could be incorporated after alkali (1.5% NaOH, w/w) processing at an enhanced level of 6.43%, replacing 12.5% of soybean meal nitrogen, in the broiler diets up to 4 weeks of age, beyond which the observed growth depression on this diet could be alleviated by 0.2% methionine supplementation.