effect of substituting soybean meal with cowpea (vigna unguiculata wal) supplemented with natural plant charcoals in broiler diet on growth performances and carcass characteristics

a total of 280 unsexed broiler chicks, 21 days-old and weighing 580 g on average were randomly distributed into 28 experimental units of 10 birds each. seven experimental diets containing respectively 0% (t0 control), 20% raw cowpeas (t1), 20% raw cowpeas + 0.2% of canarium charcoal (t2), 20% raw cowpeas + 0.2% maize cob charcoal (t3), 20% cooked cowpeas (t4), 20% cooked cowpeas + 0.2% canarium charcoal (t5) and 20% cooked cowpeas + 0.2% maize cob charcoal (t6) were each fed to 4 experimental units in a completely randomised design. the t3 and t6 rations containing respectively raw and cooked cowpeas supplemented with maize cob charcoal were the most consumed (p