Abstract

The simultaneous degradation of essential nutrients is the major drawback in detoxifying anti-nutrient toxic substances of root meal-based diets. An ameliorative dietary supplement for root meal-based diets without undergoing thorough detoxification is proposed. Therefore, this trial aims to determine the effects of mature coconut water (MCW) against the anti-nutritional factors (ANF)-containing C. merkusii root meal diet on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and organoleptic traits of broiler chickens. Cobb 500 (n=160) day-old (male) grouped into the standard diet (commercial maize-soybean) or ANF (15% raw C. merkusii + 85% commercial maize-soybean) diet group, and the birds every group further allocated into 0, 5, 10, and 15% MCW water treatment groups (n=5) with four replications. The trial lasted for 20 D (8 to 28 D of age). In the ANF diet, treatment with MCW significantly differs on feed conversion ratio (FCR). The 5-15% MCW treated chickens were more feed-efficient than the 0% MCW treatment. MCW treatments were not significant on body weight, weight gain, survival, carcass component, and organoleptic traits of broiler chickens under the standard or the ANF diets. However, significant diet*water interactions were observed on BW and dress weight, and significant gizzard weight due to diets. In general, the improved FCR may be the ameliorative effect of mature coconut water against ANF on raw C. merkusii root meal inclusion (15% + 85%) in the standard diets.