COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF TWO STRAINS OF LAYER CHICKS FED HONEY AS REPLACEMENT OF ANTIBIOTICS

Abstract

The present study examined the comparative performance between two strains of layer chick reared in the semiarid region and fed honey in place of antibiotics. Two egg layer strains, made up of one brown (Lohman Brownclassic), one black (Nera  Black) were sourced from reputable hatchery. Eighty eight day old chicks from each of the strains were in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design with the two strains (Lohmann brown classic and Nera black) and administration of honey (with and without) as the factors. These made up four treatments which were replicated thrice with 22 chicks per replicate. Feed intake and body weight were measured and weight gain and feed conversion ratio were determined. The results of the study showed thatperformance  parameters of two strains measured were statistically similar except for Mortality. Nera black strain had a higher mortality. The total feed cost of the brown strain was higher having ₦240.768 as compared with Lohmann Brown strain having ₦220.096. Even though there are no significant differences between the treatments in feed cost per kg gain, numerically brown strain had higher feed cost per kg gain (₦455.240) than Black strain (₦450.371) birds. Feeding honey as replacement for antibiotics did not affect (P>0.05) final weight, weight gain, total feed intake FCR and total water intake. Mortality is slightly higher (P<0.05) for layer strain chicks that are not fed water with honey then those fed water with honey.