ESTIMATION OF METABOLIZABLE AND DIGESTIBLE ENERGY OF RAMON (Brosimum alicastrum Swartz) SEED IN BROILERS UNDER TROPICAL CONDITIONS

Background. The current maize production in México is insufficient to supply both human and animal consumption. As maize is the main ingredient used in the formulation of poultry diets, each year, the importation of this cereal rises, thereby, the replacement of this conventional input can be made with alternative resources, such as the Ramón (Brosimum alicastrum Swartz) seed. Objective. To determine the chemical composition of Ramon seed meal (RSM), together with the estimation of the apparent metabolizable energy (AME), true metabolizable energy (TME), their digestible coefficients, as well as the apparent ileal digestible energy (AIDE) and apparent ileal digestibility coefficient (AIDC) of gross energy (GE). Methodology. Two experiments were performed using Cobb broilers; in the first experiment AME, TME and the digestible coefficients were calculated using 24 broilers (twelve 3-week-old and twelve 6-week-old) eight of them were randomly selected for determination of endogenous losses (EL). The sixteen remaining were precision-fed a single dose of RSM and total excreta collection was used. In the second experiment, three diets: 1) 100% maize; 2) 40% RSM-60% maize and; 3) 60% RSM-40% maize) were made to determine the AIDE and AIDC of each ingredient using the difference method. Diets were randomly assigned to a total of 51 7-week-old broilers, distributed in six, six and five replicates respectively (three broilers per replicate). Results. No differences were found for the AME (1863 and 1909 kcal/kg for 3 and 6 weeks, respectively) and TME (2234 and 2271 kcal/kg, for 3 and 6 weeks, respectively) values of the RSM. The AIDE and AIDC of RSM at 40 and 60% inclusion (2408 and 2538 kcal/kg, and 0.64 and 0.67, respectively) were found to be lower than that of maize (3179 kcal/kg and 0.81). Implications. These results provide information regarding the incorporation of ramon as an energy resource in tropical poultry diets. Conclusion. The estimated value of RSM in broilers was 1886 Kcal/kg for AME, 2252.5 Kcal/kg for TME and 0.476 and 0.569 for their digestibility coefficients of GE, respectively. For the AIDE, the estimated value was 2408.8 and 2538.7 Kcal/kg at 40 and 60% inclusion of RSM, with 0.640 and 0.674 AIDC, respectively.