Performance of broilers fed on Cowpea(vigna Unguiculata)meal supplemented with selected amino Acids

Abstract

The research was carried out to evaluate performance of broilers fed on cowpea (vigna unguiculata) meal supplemented with selected amino acids. The experiment was conducted at the University of Zambia; School of Agricultural Sciences Field Station for a period of six weeks in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), with 3 treatments and 3 replicationsTreatment 1; Broiler chickens fed a soya bean meal with crude protein of 22% starter feed and 19% finisher feed without cowpea and threonine Supplementations. The feed were formulated using ZABS recommendations. Treatment 2: Broiler chickens fed a cowpea meal with crude protein of 19%o starter feed and 19% finisher feed without soya bean meal and threonine supplementation. Treatment 3: Broiler chickens fed a cowpea meal with crude protein of 19% starter feed and 18% finisher feed without soya bean meal but supplemented with threonine. The results obtained on the present study indicated that there are no significant difference in live weight and Feed Conversion Ratio while there were significant differences in feed intake among the treatments