Replacement Value of Water Soaked Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) Peel Meal in Broiler Chicken Diet

A ten-week two stage experiment consisting of starter and finisher broiler feeding trials was conducted with one hundred and eighty Marshal broiler chicks to determine the replacement value of water soaked Sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) fruit peel meal as a substitute for maize. Sweet orange peels were divided into five equal parts, and a part each soaked in water for a duration of 0, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours, sundried and milled to formulate five (5) test diets T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6, respectively, in which the peel replaced maize in the control diet (T1) at 40% inclusion levels one hundred and eighty birds were randomly allocated to the six dietary treatments each of which had three replicates of ten birds each in a completely randomised design. Significant increases (P<0.05) were observed in feed intake, live weight, body weight gain, water intake while, significant decreases (P<0.05) were observed in feed conversion ratio, water: Feed ratio and mortality of starter broiler as duration of soaking of orange peels increased from 0 to 96 hours. In the finisher phase, significant increases (P<0.05) were observed in feed intake, live weight, body weight gain, whereas, water: Feed ratio decreased significantly (P<0.05) as duration of soaking of sweet orange peel increased from 0 to 96 hours. The study has shown that sweet orange peel when soaked for 96 hour can be used as a replacement for maize in broiler chicken diet at 40% levels while, longer soaking duration is further investigated.