RESPONSE OF STARTER BROILER BIRDS FED DIFFERENT COMMERCIAL FEED

Abstract

This study was conducted to compare the performance of broilers fed with different commercial feeds at the starter phase. A total of 200 birds were used for the experiment which lasted for 8 weeks. The birds were randomly divided into 5 treatment groups which were assigned to the 5 experimental diets. The experimental design used was completely Randomized Design (CRD). Growth performance parameters were measured weekly and feed intake measured daily. Feed conversion ratio and cost per kilogram weight gain were also determined. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and separated using DMRT. The result indicated that the final body weight of broiler chicks fed the various commercial starter diets range from 683g in treatment D to 876g in Trt E. The daily weight gain of broiler starter ranges from 21.36 in birds fed with Trt D to 28.25 for bird fed with Trt E. The feed intake (FI) of commercial broiler fed with Trt A, B, C, D and E were 94.7g, 91.3g, 81.0g and 99.0 respectively. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) of birds in the five treatments were similar (p>0.05). This implies that commercial feeds are better utilized. The result showed that diet B has the lowest cost (N124/kg), while E had the highest cost (N156/kg ) at the start phase. From the economic point of view, it seems that diet E would increase production cost for the poultry meat producer considering that feeding is known to take up to 70% production cost in livestock production.