ABSTRACT

The effect of boiling durations of 0, 30, 60 and 90 minutes on nutrient, antinutrient and metabolizable energy of Anthonotha macrophylla seeds was . carried out using proximate composition, mineral assay, gross energy content, anti-nutritional factors and amino acid profile as indices. The true metabolizable energy (TME) and true metabolizable energy corrected to nitrogen equilibrium (TMEn) of both raw seeds.and seeds subjected to various boiling periods (30, 60 and 90 minutes) were also evaluated. Both raw and processed seeds were later oven dried at 60c, milled and chemically analyzed. 15 broilers chickens of equal weight were randomly selected at 9 weeks old. 12 out of the 15 birds were allotted at 'the rate of 3 each to the test ingredients (0, 30, 60 and 90 minutes) while the remaining 3 broilers served as endogenous source. There were 3 replicates / treatment and 1 bird / replicate in a completely randomized design. Each of the bird was forced fed with 25g of assigned feed stuff and allowed to stay for 24 hours for faecal collection. Feaces collected were dried and analyzed for both nitrogen and .. energy content. The proximate composition decreased significantly (p0.05) difference. The mineral composition showed that seeds subjected to 30 minutes boiling had the highest values for both macro and micro minerals. This was followed by seeds subjected to 60 minutes boiling. There were significant (p <0.05) differences for the values of anti-nutritional factors. Seeds subjected to 90 minutes boiling period had the least values of 0.01 %, 1.16%, 0.00% for phytate, HCN and trypsin inhibitor respectively. This was followed by seeds subjected to 60 minutes boiling. While tannin and nitrate had the same values (0.01 %) respectively for both seeds boiled for 90 and 60 minutes. There were significant (p <0.05) differences for the values of amino acids, seeds boiled for 30 minutes had the highest values for the limiting essential amino acids lysine (6.04g/100) and methionine (0.45g/100) and generally for non essential amino acids. This was followed by seeds boiled for 60 minutes. For the True metabolizable energy (TME) and true metabolizable energy corrected to nitrogen equilibrium (TMEn), seeds subjected to 90 minutes boiling gave the highest values of 2.57kcal/g and 1.70kcal/g, respertively Among the processed seeds, considering Anthonotha macrophylla seed as a plant protein, seeds subjected to 30 minutes is recommended, but when considered as a feedstuff seed subjected to 90 minutes is recommended.