GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKENS FED GRADED LEVELS OF CORN HOMINY MEAL AS REPLACEMENT FOR MAIZE

Abstract

An eight-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the growth performance of broiler chickens fed graded levels of corn hominy meal (CHM) as a replacement for maize. One hundred and forty-four day-old Anak 2000 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments in a completely randomised design (CRD). Each treatment had three replicates of twelve birds each. Corn hominy meal replaced maize at 0, 20, 40 and 60% in diets 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. All diets were isonitrogenous and isocaloric. At the starter phase, average daily feed intake was significantly (P<0.05) influenced by dietary treatment, with birds on 60% CHM recording the highest intake (38.41 g/bird/day), while average live weight, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) were not significantly (P>0.05) affected. At the finisher phase, average live weight, daily weight gain, FCR and PER were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by treatment diets. Birds maintained on 40% CHM recorded the highest live weight (2.60 kg/bird) and best PER (3.22), while those on 60% CHM had the highest FCR (2.70), indicating poor feed utilisation at that level. Mortality was zero across all treatments. It is concluded that CHM can replace maize at up to 40% inclusion level in broiler diets without adverse effects on growth performance.