Performance and egg quality characteristics of pullets fed activated sheabutter charcoal based diets

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the growth performance, nutrient utilization, egg quality characteristics cost : benefit values of feeding different levels activated sheabutter tree charcoal to laying characteristics and cost-benefit va u® activated sheabutter charcoal were formulated to contain ,^r a rf ,50 cm po..,. 0.0 (control), 10.0, 20.0, 30.0 . results showed no beneficial effect of ;Xda^ o(^e as ,here were n0 Si9nifican‘ <P>0 05> differences in the performance parameters measured up to th«s stage AlI theflaying stage a^led sheabutter charcoal significantly (p<0.05) improved egg weight from (48 ± 3.01) in the control to 54-86 ± 3.01) in 40.0% charcoal level. Percent cracked eggs also reduced significantly (p<0.05) from 15.33 ^(control) to 0.20% in 40.0% activated sheabutter charcoal level. No significant (p>0.05) effect of activated sheabutter charcoal was observed on the internal egg quality parameters measured. The pullets fed activated charcoal had higher economic returns than the control. The results were attributed to increased mineral intake and utilization enhanced by charcoal supplementation and also improved absorption capacity of charcoal for dietary fat.