Effect of Fermentation of Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) Fruit Peel on its Phytonutrients and the Performance of Broiler Starter

A 5-week feeding trial to determine the effect of fermentation of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) fruit peel on its maize replacement value in broiler starter diet was conducted. Sweet orange fruit peels were collected from peeled orange sellers and divided into three portions. The first portion was not fermented (SPo), while the second and third portions were fermented for 24hrs (SP24) and 48hrs (SP48), respectively. They were separately sun-dried, milled and samples screened and analyzed for phytonutrients. Four different diets namely the control (CD) and three test diets SPoD, SP24D and SP4sD in which SPo, SP24D and SP48 replaced maize in the control diet (CD) at 30% level in that order were compounded. Seven-day old one hundred and twenty Anak 2000 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to these diet groups to evaluate their performance. There was a decrease in the concentration of each of oxalate, flavonoid, tannin, saponin and phytate detected in the peels as the duration of fermentation increased from 0 to 48hrs. Thirty percent replacement of maize by the fermented sweet orange fruit peel meal depressed body weight gain (p<0.01), feed intake (p<0.05) and live weight (p<0.01) of broiler starter. The fermentation technique used in this study did not improve the nutritive value of the sweet orange fruit peels to enhance its suitability as a feed resource in broiler starter production.