BIOAVAILABLE ENERGY VALUE AND DIGESTIBILITY OF WHOLE MELON SEEDMEAL (COLOCYNTHZS CZTRULLUS, L). IN BROILER CHICKENS.

Abstract

Twenty physiologically (adult) mature broiler chickens paired on equal weight bris were starved for 24 hr to avoid completely    previous feed residues. Ten of the b~rdws ere force- fed 30g dry matter (DM) of toasted or untoasted melon seed meal (TMSM or UTMSM) as slurry. Before forming the slurry, the feeds were sampled for proximate analysis. The other ten birds were starved as a control group for the estimation of the metabolic faecal and endogenous urinary losses. Excreta were quantitatively collected at 24,48 and 60 hr post-principium and part of each sample was taken for proximate analysis for calculation of their percent digestibility while the other part along with the meals were used as sample for gross energy determination. Results showed that 481ir represented the period when faecal residues were totally voided. The true metabolisable energy (TME) and the true dry matter digestibility of TMSM and UTMSM were 4.94, 4.80 (Kcal/g) and 73.14, 68.65, ('xt) respectively. The TME estimate was significantly higher than the other energy systems. Toasting melon seeds did not affect nutrient availability and digestibility. Also the study shows that digestibility studies may be used to enhance the accuracy of bioavailable energy data.