GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER CHICKENS FED GRADED LEVELS OF BREWER DRIED GRAIN AS SUBSTITUTE FOR MAIZE

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens fed graded levels of brewers dried grain (BDG) as substitute for maize. A total of two hundred and forty (240) broiler chickens were allotted to four (4) experimental groups in a completely randomized design (CRD) and fed graded levels (0, 10, 20 and 30%) of brewers dried grain (BDG). The experimental groups were designated as treatments T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄ respectively and further replicated four (4) times with 15 birds per replicates, each group had a total of sixty (60) birds. Growth parameters determined were initial weight grain, final weight gain, daily feed intake, daily, weight gain and feed conversion ratio. At the end of the feeding trials, two birds per treatment were randomly selected from each of the replicates, starved overnight and slaughtered to evaluate carcass and organs characteristics. Results showed that at the starter phase there were no significant (P>0.05) difference on growth performance parameters. The results at the finisher recorded significant (P<0.05) difference in average daily feed intake. There was no significant (P<0.05) difference in the overall performance among the treatment groups. Significant (P<0.05) difference was observed on the carcass parameters measured in plucked weight, carcass, dressing percentage, small intestine, liver, and kidney. However, the values obtained for other carcass parameters did not differ. From these findings, it can be concluded brewers dried grain can replace maize up to 30% in broiler diets without any adverse effect on the performance. Based on the result obtained from this study it was recommended that the use of brewers dried grain at 30% level resulted in lower feed cost thereby improving the profit margin of the poultry production. More studies should be conducted on the inclusion of spent sorghum residue at 50% to evaluate the response on the broiler chickens