Apparent metabolisable energy and digestibility of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) fat, cocoa (Theobroma cacao) fat and soya bean oil in broiler chicks

Herbert Kwabla Dei (1) , Paul Rose (2) , Sandy Mckenzie (3)

1 Animal Science Research Centre
2 National Institute of Poultry Husbandry
3 Harper Adams University

1. The objective of this experiment was to determine and compare the apparent lipid digestibility coefficient and apparent metabolisable energy (AME) value of shea nut (Vitellaria paradoxa, Gaertn.) fat in broiler chickens with that of soya bean oil and cocoa fat. 2. One hundred and sixty 13-day-old male broiler chicks were used in a randomised complete block design. The fats were added at 30, 60 and 90 g kg-1 to a basal diet. A tenth dietary treatment was the basal feed with no added fats or oils. The birds were fed the diets for eight days and all droppings were collected for the final four days. 3. The mean coefficient of apparent lipid digestibility for shea fat (0.58) was similar to cocoa fat (0.54) but lower (P<0.001) than that of soya bean oil (0.95). There was evidence of a lipid x level interaction with the 90 g kg-1 shea fat diet having low lipid digestibility (0.43). 4. There was an interaction (P<0.05) between dietary lipid level and test lipid on the determined AME but at dietary levels of 60 g kg-1 and below, the AME of shea fat (18.3 MJ kg-1 DM) and cocoa fat (24.6 MJ kg-1 DM) was significantly (P<0.01) lower than that of soya bean oil (39.0 MJ kg-1 DM).

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Herbert Kwabla Dei, Paul Rose, Sandy Mckenzie. Apparent metabolisable energy and digestibility of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) fat, cocoa (Theobroma cacao) fat and soya bean oil in broiler chicks. British Poultry Science, 2006, 47 (05), pp.607-612. ⟨10.1080/00071660600939701⟩. ⟨hal-00545299⟩