THE NUTRITIVE-VALUE OF SOME INDIGENOUS ASIAN POULTRY FEED INGREDIENTS

Rice polishings, Snail meal (Pila globosa) and azolla (Azolla pinnata) were assessed for nutritive content and feeding value in broiler diets. Proximate analyses, together with estimates of ADF, NDF, Ca and P, and total amino acids were estimated for each of the ingredients. Snail meal was high in protein (539 g kg(-1)), although a high calcium content (85 g kg(-1)) probably reflects contamination of the meal with shell material. Azolla meal was high in NDF (478 g kg(-1)) and total ash (360 g kg(-1)). AME(n) of ingredients were 13.96, 8.94 and 4.38 MJ kg(-1) for rice polishings, snail meal and azolla, respectively. The apparent and true ileal digestibility of nitrogen in azolla (49.50 and 63.50%) was significantly lower than for rice polishings (59.00 and 79.50%) and snail meal (82.00 and 90.00%). The apparent and true digestibility coefficients of amino acids in azolla were significantly lower than those found for rice polishings and snail meal. The apparent and true digestibility coefficients of total amino acids in azolla were 45.08 and. 64.23 respectively, while higher values were seen with rice polishings (61.50 and 79.41) and snail meal (80.88 and 89.38). The feeding value of rice polishings, azolla and snail meal was studied for male broilers from 1-14 days including the ingredients at 200, 100 and 80 g kg(-1) diet respectively at the expense of maize and soybean meal with substitution on the basis of digestible protein. Body weight and weight gain were significantly (P < 0.01) reduced for broilers fed rice polishings although feed/gain was little affected. The body weight, weight gain and feed/gain for birds fed azolla and snail meal were similar to those seen in birds fed the maize-soyabean meal diet.