Neem (Azadirachta indica) Seed Cake in the Diets of Cockerel Chickens

The response of cockerel chickens fed graded levels of untreated and treated neem seed cake as partial replacement of Soya Bean Meal (SBM) was investigated. A total of 180 cockerels were subjected to an 8 week feeding trial in a 3x2 factorial design. There were 6 dietary treatments: diets 1 and 2 contained Untreated Neem Seed Cake (UNSC) at 10 and 20%, diets 3 and 4 contained Water Soaked Neem Seed Cake (WNSC) at 10 and 20% levels while diets 5 and 6 contained Charcoal supplemented Neem Seed Cake (CNSC) at 10 and 20% each replacing soyabean meal. The charcoal in diets 5 and 6 was added at a dose of 4 kg/tonne of feed. Results obtained showed that Feed Intake (FI), Body Weight Gain (BWG) and Feed Cost per kilogram Weight Gain (FCWG) were significantly different (p<0.05) across the treatments while feed gain ratio and feed cost did not show any difference among treatment means. Cockerels on WNSC diets had higher FI and BWG while those on UNSC had the least values. FCWG was similar in WNSC and CNSC and was better (p<0.05) than UNSC. Cockerels fed UNSC based diets produced least result in nearly all the carcass indices measured. Bigger breast plate, thigh, drumstick and back parts (p<0.05) were observed for birds on WNSC diets up to 20% level of inclusion. Blood parameters did not show any significant differences (p>0.05) among dietary treatments. It is concluded that treated neem seedcake may replace part of SBM used in the diet of cockerel chickens at the levels studied.