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