Assessing Spent Mushroom Substrate as a Replacement to Wheat Bran in the Diet of Broilers
Aderemi Foluke, Adedokun Olutayo, Alabi Olufemi

Abstract
This study investigates the use of spent (used) mushroom substrate (SMS) as a replacement to wheat bran on broiler performance. Five diets were formulated such that diet I with 0% SMS served as the control while for diets II-V wheat bran was replaced with SMS at graded levels of 25, 50, 75 and 100% respectively. One hundred and fifty broilers were randomly assigned to the dietary treatment replicated thrice and lasted for eight weeks. Results showed that at both starter and finisher phases the feed intake increased as the SMS inclusion increased. The body weight gained of those fed with diets I and II were significantly P<0.05 higher than others at starter phase. While at finisher phase, those fed with diets I and II were significantly P<0.05 lowered than others. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) adjudged diets I and II better than other diets at starter phase whereas diet I was better than other diets at the finisher phase. Carcass cuts showed that dietary treatment does not significantly P>0.05 affect the breast, thigh drumstick, back, neck, wings and shoulder. Mortality that occurred at the starter phase could not be linked to the dietary treatment. Conclusively SMS could replace wheat bran in broilers production.

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