Inclusion of Dried Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) Pomace in Broiler Diets on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics

The dried tomato pomace (DTP) is a by-product obtained ffom processsng of fomatoess, ontained 22 per cent of CP, 12 per cent of EE and 2172 kcal/kg of calculated metabolizable energy (ME). Iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric starter (0–4 weeks) and flnisher (5–6 weeks) broiler diets were formulated by incorporating DTP at 0,5,10 and 15% without (T₁, T₃ T₅ and T₇) and dith (T₂, T₄, T₆ and T₈) enzyme supplementation and were offered to 240 male broiler chicks distributed to eight treatments in a completely randomized design (CRD). The body weight remained similar when diets containing DTP with or without enzyme supplementation. The feed intake differed (P<0.05) in broilers fed on different diets during 0–6 weeks and ranged from 3.57 (T₃) to 3.87 (T₈) kg. Feed efficiency differed (P<0.01) during 0–6 weeks between different treatments and at different levels of DTP inclusion. The feed cost per kg gain decreased (P<0.01) with increase in DTP level and ranged from Rs. 16.16 (15%) to 17.49 (0%). There was no significant effect of DTP inclusion on ready-to-cook-yield (%) and percent giblet weight. It is concluded that DTP could be included up to 15 per cent in broiler diets economically without affecting their growth performance and feed efficiency.