Effects Of Blood Meal, Chicken Offal Meal And Fish Meal As Sources Of Methionine And Lysine In Starter Cockerels Diets

Abstract

The effects were studied of using combinations of plant protein sources, GNC, Palm Kernel cake, and cotton and seed cake diets, supplemented with 4 sources of methionine (M) and Lysine (L), synthetic M+L, blood meal + M, fish meal, or chicken offal meal (COM) in 8-Week 3 x 4 factorial experiment with starter cockerels. Sources of M and L did not affect mean daily gain of the birds but significant differences (P<0.05) were observed in feed intake, feed per gain ratio, protein efficiency ratio (PER), nitrogen retention (NR) as well as economy of feed conversion. Maximum weight, best feed conversion ratio, PER and economy of feed conversion were observed in the M+L dietary group followed by those on blood meal + M supplementary group where maximum NR was observed. The least response values (except NR) were obtained in the COM group. This study indicated that starter cockerels (0-8 weeks) fed diets supplemented with synthetic methionine and lysine gave the most optional performance.