Replacement value of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) peels for wheat offals in the performance of broiler starter diets.

Two-hundred (200) day old broiler chicks of Anak 2000 breed from a commercial hatchery were used to investigate the effect of replacing wheat offals with sweet orange peel meal in broiler rations.  The birds were fed on 0%, 50%, 75% and 100% dietary inclusion of sweet orange peel meal as replacement for wheat offals in a 28 day feeding trial.  Significant interaction between dietary levels of sweet orange peel meal and wheat offals were observed on feed efficiency and weight gain (p<0.05).  Increase in dietary levels of sweet orange peel meal reduced feed transit time in gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) (p<0.05) while supplementary wheat offal had the opposite effect (p<0.05).  It was concluded that broiler chicks could tolerate up to 75% dietary levels of sweet orange peel meal without wheat offal added to such a diet, performance was comparable to that of birds fed a standard diet with money saved in the process.