Utilisation of leucaena leaf meal by broilers

1. The effect of including Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) leaf meal (LLM) in broiler diets was investigated employing LLM at 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 g/kg diet. Experiments were also conducted to investigate whether reduced food intake of diets containing LLM is responsible for the growth depression.

2. LLM appears to be a good source of protein and calcium.

3. Food intake was not significantly affected (P>0.05) with dietary LLM inclusion up to 200 g/kg.

4. Inclusion of LLM up to 150 g/kg diet did not influence significantly (P>0.05) the performance of broilers in terms of body weight gain and food efficiency. However, inclusion of LLM at 200 g/kg diet had an adverse effect on weight gain and food efficiency, when compared to other dietary treatments. The profitability over food costs was low with the 200 g LLM/kg diet compared to those of other diets.

5. It may be inferred from these experiments that LLM can safely be included in broiler diets up to 150 g/kg.

6. Studies using force‐feeding and restricted feeding techniques indicated that reduced food intake was not responsible for the growth depression in diets containing higher amounts of LLM.