Sustainable Alternative Feed Ingredients: Effects of Palm Kernel Cake and Decanter Cake on Broiler Growth and Production Performance

This study focused on assessing the effects of palm kernel cake (PKC) and decanter cake (DC) as feed ingredients for broilers. A total of 1,200 one-day-old male broiler chicks were reared for a 35-day experimental period. The chicks were randomly allocated into 15 dietary treatment groups, with each group consisting of 8 replicates and 10 birds per replicate. Treatment 1 is considered the control diet with no PKC or DC inclusion. Treatments 2 to 8 contained 2–14% PKC in 2% increments, while treatments 9 to 15 included DC at the same inclusion levels. Statistical analyses were conducted using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure in SAS software. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the treatment effects, and Duncan's Multiple Range Test was used to determine significant differences between treatment means at p < 0.05. The results showed that higher inclusion levels of both by-products, particularly above 6%, adversely affected broiler growth performance by reducing (p < 0.05) birds' body weight (BW) and carcass weight while increasing (p < 0.05) feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). At the same time, no significant changes in growth-related genes were observed across all inclusion levels, suggesting that the observed performance effects were not due to impaired regulation of growth genes. However, meat quality traits such as pH and water-holding capacity remained unaffected (p > 0.05). This study suggests that PKC and DC can be included in broiler diets at levels up to 6%, as higher levels may negatively impact growth performance and carcass characteristics.