GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKENS FED DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF SORGHUM AND FULL-FAT SOYA BEAN DIETS

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different varieties of sorghum on the performance of broiler chickens fed five different experimental diets.  Four sorghum varieties ex-vom (red sorghum), SK5912 (yellow sorghum), ex-kano (white sorghum) and ICSV400 (brown sorghum) were evaluated, while maize served as the control diet. Full fat soya bean was used as plant protein source.  A total of three hundred (300) unsexed, Cobb 500 broiler chicks were used for the experiment. The birds were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments and each treatment was replicated four times in a completely randomized design (CRD) with fifteen (15) birds per replicate. Data were collected on daily feed intake, weekly weight gain and mortality. The data generated were subjected to analysis of variance. The results revealed no significant difference in performance parameters in overall daily feed intake (91.39, 85.09, 90.43, 89.74 and 84.22 g), and body weight changes with, 33.29 g on diet 1(control), followed by 29.41 g (diet 2), 29.53 g (3), 23.82 g (4) and 32.22 g in broiler chickens fed diets 5. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was similar among the dietary treatments with values of 2.70, 2.83, 3.02, 4.05 and 2.98 on diets 1 to 5 respectively. The final body weight ranged from 1030 to 1310g on diets 4 and 1 respective. It can be concluded that all the four varieties of sorghum tested can be used in rearing of broiler chickens as there was no any negative effect on growth performance of the birds and no significant differences existed among the five experimental diets.