Effects of Cocoa Pod Shell Flour on the Zootechnical and Economic Performance of Broiler Chickens Undergoing Finishing Growth in Côte d’Ivoire

Background: A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of incorporating cocoa pod shell flour into the feed of broiler chickens during the growth-finishing phase on their production performance. Methods: Four feed treatments were formulated with incorporation rates of 0% (CC0); 5% (CC5); 10% (CC10); and 15% (CC15) cocoa pod shell meal and these were then compared with a commercial feed as a control. Three hundred broiler chicks of the ‘Cobb 500’ strain, aged 21 days and with an average weight of 450±47 g, were divided into 15 experimental units. The assignment of each feeding treatment to three experimental units was completely random. Result: Following a 28-day rearing period, the statistical analysis revealed that the weights of the chickens fed with the treatments CC0 (2302.14 g) and CC5 (2280.53 g) were significantly different (p less than 0.05) from those of the others, TC (1727.96 g), CC10 (2032.86 g) and CC15 (1653.16 g). In a similar vein, the consumption indices of treatments CC0 (2.02) and CC5 (2.20) were found to be statistically identical and lower than those of the other treatments, TC(2.63), CC10 (2.49) and CC15 (3.02). From an economic perspective, the production cost of the feeds decreased in proportion to the increase in rates of pod shells, from 332 FCFA/kg for the TC feed to 242.96 FCFA/kg for the CC15 feed. Regarding the production costs per kilogram of live weight, those of the CCO and CC5 treatments are statistically identical (613 and 658 FCFA, respectively) but lower than those of the other three treatments TC, CC10 and CC15 (871, 737 and 732 FCFA, respectively).