Growth Performance, Carcass Traits and Breast Meat Fatty Acids Profile of Helmeted Guinea Fowls (Numida meleagris) Fed Increasing Level of Linseed (Linum usitatissimum) and Pumpkin Seed (Cucurbita moschata) Meals

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary inclusion with linseed and pumpkin seed meals on growth performance, carcass traits and breast meat fatty acids profile of helmeted guinea fowls. A total of 120 meat-type helmeted guinea fowl females of 12 weeks of age were fed with 0 (T0), 100 (T1) and 200 (T2) g/kg of linseed (LM) and pumpkin seed meals (PSM) for 56 days, in a completely randomized design with 10 replicates per treatment and four birds per replicate. The inclusion up to 200 g/kg of LM and PSM did not affect the livability, initial live weight and feed intake (p>0.05). However, final live weight and feed:gain ratio improved significantly (p0.05). The oleaginous seeds (LM and PSM) decreased (p0.05) and the eicosatrienoic and arachidonic acids in breast meat (p