GROWTH RESPONSE OF BROILER CHICKS FED FRIED COOKIES (CHINCHIN) WASTE MEAL AS REPLACEMENT FOR MAIZE

Abstract

The increasing price and seasonal scarcity of maize, a major conventional livestock feedstuff in Nigeria, has prompted research into the possibility of replacing it with potential feed resources such as chinchin waste, that are of little or importance to humans. The feed intake (FI), weight gain (WG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), specific growth rate (SGR) of one hundred and fifty-day old broiler chicks fed diets containing chinchin waste meal (CWM) was investigated for thirty-five days in a completely randomized design. CWM was fed at 0%, 12%, 24%, 36% and 48% levels of inclusion as a replacement for maize. Each dietary level of inclusion represented a treatment and replicated three times. Results revealed that CWM significantly (P<0.05) depressed FI, but had no significant (P>0.05) influence on WG, FCR, PER, and SGR of the birds. Hence, CWM can replace maize in the diets of broiler chicken without compromising their growth.  Birds fed diets containing 36% CWM had the best performance, therefore, the inclusion of CWM at 36% level is hereby recommended.