CARCASS YIELD AND GUT CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER CHICKENS FED GRADED LEVELS OF COOKED COWPEA (Vigna unguiculata L Wolf)

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of replacing soyabean with cowpea seeds on blood parameters of broiler chickens Two hundred Anak 2000 one week old broiler chicks were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments in which cowpea seeds replace soyabean at 0%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%, each treatment was replicated four (4) times with ten birds per replicate in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD). Results showed that live weight (2200-2750g), slaughter weight (90.68- 96.83%), pluck weight (90.18-94.67%), dressed, weight (65.73-71.00%), thigh weight (14.26- 13.94%), wings (4.44-4.97%) and pectoral muscle (9.45-11.65%) were affected by the different levels of cooked cowpea seeds. Similarly gizzard (0.81-1.15%), liver (1.26-1.74%) and abdominal fat (1.54- 2.43%) were affected by the different levels of cooked cowpea seeds. Cooked cowpea seeds can be incorporated up to 30% in the diet of broiler chickens without deleterious effects on carcass yield and gut characteristics