EFFECT OF SOAKED AND DRIED FALSE YAM (Icacina Oliviformis) SEED MEAL ON CARCASS AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER CHICKEN

This study was conducted to determine the effect of soaked and dried false yam seed meal (SFYSM) on the carcass and sensory characteristics of broiler chicken. A total of 48 chickens (12 birds in each treatment) were randomly selected from 120 birds fed diets containing 0% (T1, control), 5% (T2), 7.5% (T3) and 10% (T4) SFYSM. The birds were weighed and slaughtered after a 24 hours feed withdrawal. Carcass and visceral weights were taken, after which the thigh and breast muscles were bagged separately for laboratory and sensory analyses respectively. The breast muscles were thawed, grilled in an oven to a core temperature of 70°C for sensory analysis, whiles the thigh muscles were used for moisture, fat, crude protein and lipid per-oxidation analyses. The results indicated that the use of SFYSM had no significant effect on carcass and sensory characteristics of the birds. In addition, there was no significant difference in moisture and lipid peroxidation of the products. However, the crude protein contents of the carcasses significantly (P<0.05) increased with an increasing SFYSM inclusion rates. Feeding of SFYSM to broiler birds up to 10% inclusion on weight basis has no effect on carcass, sensory and storability of the carcasses.