GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER FINISHERS FED GINGER WASTE MEAL AS AN ENERGY SOURCE

Abstract

A 4-week feeding trial was conducted with four-week-old unsexed Abor-Acres chickens (n=375) to examine the growth performance and carcass traits of the chickens fed graded dietary levels of ginger waste meal (GWM) at 0, 7.5, 15.0, 22.5, and 30.0% replacement for maize, representing T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively. The chickens were allotted to 5 treatments with 5 replicates each of 15 birds in a completely randomized design. Clean water was provided ad libitum. At the end of the four-week feeding trial, some growth parameters (Final weight, daily weight gain and feed to gain ratio) and carcass traits were calculated. The results showed that dietary levels of inclusion of GWM had significant (P<0.05) effect on the growth parameters and carcass traits measured. Final weight and daily weight gain increased as GWM increased in the diet, while average daily feed consumed and the feed to gain ratio also increased. The dressing percentage, carcass, thigh, breast, wing and back weights were higher for the birds fed 0, 7.5%, 15.0%, and 22.5% GWM based diets than those on 30%GWM. It is concluded that 22.5% of the maize in broiler chicken diets can be substituted by dried GWM with no loss of performance as measured by growth rate, feed conversion and carcass conformation.