P.N. Onu
Department of Animal Production and Fisheries Management,
Ebonyi State University, P.M.B. 053,
Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria
M.O. Otuma
Department of Animal Production and Fisheries Management,
Ebonyi State University, P.M.B. 053,
Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
A 28 day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the utilization of heat-treated sheep dropping in the diets of broiler chicks. Four experimental finisher diets were formulated such that diet 1 which served as the control contained 0% HSD (maize-based). Diets 2, 3 and 4 contained 7.5, 15 and 22.5% HSD respectively. 160, 5-week old broiler chicks were divided into four treatment groups of forty (40) birds each and each group randomly assigned to an experimental diet in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Each treatment was further subdivided into four (4) replicates of ten birds (10) per replicate. Results showed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in feed intake among the birds fed with the experimental diets. There was no significant (p>0.05) difference among birds fed diets T1, T2 and T3 (15% inclusion of HSD) on average final body weight, average body weight gain and average daily weight gain. Birds fed 22.5% HSB-based diet recorded significantly (p<0.05) the lowest body weight gain. It was however observed that the 15% HSD diet gave the best result in terms of total cost of feed consumed, cost of daily feed intake, cost of feed per kilogram gain and cost saving in (%). It was found from this study that HSD can be included in broiler finisher diets at up to 15% dietary level without any deleterious effect.
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How to cite this article
P.N. Onu and M.O. Otuma, 2008. Utilization of Heat-Treated Sheep Dropping in the Diets of Broiler Finisher Chicks . International Journal of Poultry Science, 7: 169-173.
DOI: 10.3923/ijps.2008.169.173
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ijps.2008.169.173
DOI: 10.3923/ijps.2008.169.173
URL: https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ijps.2008.169.173