EFFECT OF GRADED LEVELS OF DIETARY LYSINE SUPPLEMENTION ON CARCASS YIELD OF BROILER FINISHER CHICKENS

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effects of graded levels of dietary lysine supplement on carcass yield of broiler finishers. A total of 150-day old unsexed broiler chickens were brooded for 4 weeks on commercial broiler starter feeds after which they were divided into 5 groups of 30 birds. Each group was further divided into 3 replicates of 10 birds in a Completely Randomized Design. The groups of birds were allotted to 5 diets containing 0.125, 0.100, 0.075, 0.050, and 0.025 % lysine supplement that were fed to the birds for 4 weeks (28 days) duration along with clean drinking water ad libitum. At the end of the 4 weeks feeding of the experimental diets, two birds having their weights closest to the average of each replicate (i e. 6 per treatment) were selected, slaughtered, scalded, plucked, eviscerated and dissected. The dressed carcass, various carcass components and internal organs were then weighed and expressed as percentage of live weights for each treatment and replicate. Statistical analyses of the results show that there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in dressing percentages and proportions of carcass components to live weights between treatments. It was concluded that broiler finisher chickens can be fed diets with lysine supplements as low as 0.025% (75% less than recommended level) without any adverse effects on growth performance and carcass yield.