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¹ Department of Animal Production and Technology, Federal College of Wildlife Management, P.M.B 268, New bussa, Nigeria.
² Departamento de Zootecnia, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Avenida Colombo, 5790, 87020-900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil. - A 42-d study was conducted to determine the effect of different processing methods of rubber seed meal (RSM) which include soaking, cooking, toasting and fermentation as substitute for soybean meal on performance, apparent nutrient digestibility, relative organ weight and carcass qualities of broiler chickens. Three hundred, 1-day old Arbor acre broiler chicks were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments containing the four different processed RSM (soaked, cooked, toasted and fermented RSM) and control diet without RSM, with five replications of twelve birds each in a completely randomized design. Proximate composition revealed that the fermented RSM had higher crude protein content, and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) concentration recorded lowest in the cooked RSM than other processed RSM. Birds fed cooked and fermented RSM recorded higher weight gain and feed intake with better feed efficiency than those on toasted and soaked RSM group compared to the control group. The cost/kg weight gain of birds fed cooked and fermented RSM diets was lower than those fed control, soaked and toasted RSM diets. With the exception of crude protein digestibility which was lower in the group fed SRSM, apparent nutrient digestibility variables were similar among the control and other processed RSM diets. Carcass and organ variables were better compared among the control, cooked and fermented RSM groups. Conclusively, cooking and fermentation tend to improve the nutritive potentials of rubber seed than soaking and toasting. Birds fed cooked and fermented RSM maintained superior performance and better carcass qualities at higher savings in terms of cost/kg gain. Keywords : Broilers, carcass, nutrient digestibility, performance, processing, rubber seed