Effect of detoxified karanj cake on the performance of broilers

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of solvent extracted karanj cake (SKC), SKC treated with 2% NaOH, 1% NaOH + 1% HCl treated SKC and 3% iso propyl alcohol (IPA) treated SKC on performance of broilers. The experiment comprised of 13 dietary treatments, T₁ as control (without karanj cake). SKC diets at 3, 6 and 9% levels were designated as T₂, T₃ and T₄; NaOH treated SKC at 3, 6 and 9% levels were designated as T₅, T₆ and T₇; NaOH + HCl treated SKC at 3, 6 and 9% levels were designated as T₈, T₉ and T₁₀; while T₁₁, T₁₂ and T₁₃ comprised of 3%, 6% and 9% IPA treated SKC diets, respectively. Six replicates were allocated to each treatment, and each replicate comprised of five birds. The results revealed that inclusion of IPA treated karanj cake at 3% maintained similar body weight gain as compared to the control group. At 6 and 9%, the IPA treated cake improved the performance compared to the SKC fed group. Processing of SKC with NaOH or NaOH + HCl yielded marginal improvement in body weight gain of chicken. The inclusion of SKC, NaOH treated SKC and NaOH + HCl treated SKC reduced feed consumption. Feed conversion ratio with IPA treated SKC was comparable to control even at 6% inclusion level. Economics of feeding of karanj cake-based diets indicated that IPA treatment increased returns over feed cost than that of SKC diet. It was concluded that IPA treated SKC could be safely incorporated at 3% level in broiler chicken diet.