BIOECONOMICS OF FEEDING RAW OR HEAT TREATED SOYABEANS TO BROILERS4

Abstract

The bioeconomics of feeding full-fat raw (RSB), toasted (TSB), cooked (CSB) soyabeans or defatted soyabean meal (SMB) to broiler chicks at starter and finisher phases was investigated using 240 Anak strain broiler chicks. At starter phase RSB diet significantly (P < 0.05) depressed average daily intake (ADI) only when compared with SMB diet. It also significantly (P <0.01) depressed daily weight gain (DWG): with values of RSB (20.1 gin), TSB (241 gm), CSB (24.0gm) and SMB (253 gm) as well as feed conversion ratio of RSB (3.03) TSB (2.63), CSB (2.49) and SMB (2.58). At finisher phase, the effects were not significant (P> .0.05) suggesting adaptation of the chick to RSB with time. SMB diet was almost twice as costly to produce as the other three diets. Cost of feed per unit of weight gained was highest (P < 0.05) with SMB diet followed by RSB diet while CSB and TSB diets were similar at starter phase. At finisher phase SMB diet still had significantly (P < 0.01) higher cost per kg weight gain than the RSB, TSB and CSB diets whose values were statistically the same. On gross margin, the use of SMB diet significantly (P < 0.01) resulted in the lowest values, followed by the RS B diet while the values of CSB and TSB diets remained similar and the highest at both phases. This underlines the importance of using cost of food consumed to obtain a unit of product as a basis for recommending feeds to farmers (alongside other nutritional factors).