Abstract
The study was conducted to assess the proximate composition and amino acid profiles of six (6) commercial broiler starter and finisher diets. Four samples of each feed type were procured from different feed vendors within Abuja metropolis and subjected to proximate and amino acid analyses. The dry matter, crude protein, crude fibre, crude fat and ash contents of broiler starter and finisher diets were observed to be within the levels of 92.2 – 94.4%, 21.5-24.6%, 4.0 – 8.7%, 5.5 – 8.7% and 7.9 – 12.0% and 91.64-94.38%, 19.06-22.63%, 4.41-8.77%, 5.37-8.41% and 7.87-11.25%, respectively, and were within the ranges quoted on the labels of the feeds analyzed. The results also showed that there was no significant (P>0.05) difference in the crude protein (4), arginine, methionine, isoleucine, threonine and valine contents of the broiler starter diets compared with the vatusin the nutrient tables of NRC., Except for methionine+cystein which was lower (P 0.05), leucine, valine, phenylalaline+thyrocine and glycine+serine values of the test finisher diets were significantly (P<0.05) different from NRC recommendation for broilers aged 3-6 weeks. Except for arginine, isoleucine and threonine which were similar (P<0.05) to NRC requirement table for broilers aged 6-8 weeks, CP and the other amino acid vatus of the test finisher diets were higher (P<0.05). Although, estimated chemical scores of analyzed diets revealed a generally high trend, methionine plus cystine appeared limiting in the broiler starter diets compared with recommended levels for birds aged 1-3 weeks; threonine, valine or isoeucine may be limiting in some broiler finisher diets when compared with requirement for broilers aged 3-6 weeks. Keywords : Broiler starter, broiler finisher, finished feeds, proximate composition, amino acid profile
Highlights
The livestock sector is crucial to the socio-economic development of Nigeria, contributing about 13% of agricultural GDP between 1996 and 2000 (Manyong et al, 2005)
The dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF), crude fat and ash contents of broiler starter feeds were observed to be within the range of 92.2 to 94.4%, 21.5 to 24.6%, 4.0
91.64 to 94.38%, 19.06-22.63%, 4.41 to 8.77%, 5.37 to 8.41% and 7.87 to 11.25% were the ranges obtained for DM, CP, CF, fat and ash contents of the test finisher diets, respectively
Summary
The livestock sector is crucial to the socio-economic development of Nigeria, contributing about 13% of agricultural GDP between 1996 and 2000 (Manyong et al, 2005). Chicken meat output ranked third after beef and goat meat in Nigeria for 2010 (FAOSTAT, 2012) In spite of these prospects, productivity within the poultry sub-sector in Nigeria has been constrained by poor nutrition and diseases (Adene and Oguntade, 2006), with yield per carcass weight of chicken still estimated at 1kg compared with 1.5kg and 1.3kg in Canada and Egypt, respectively (FAOSTAT, 2012). While many poultry producers prefer toll milled or protein concentrates to finished feeds, a substantial number of the producers still depend on commercial feeds. This may be one of the contributing factors to the considerable increase in the number of finished poultry feed available in the market in recent time. Considering the high proportion of production expenses covered by feeding cost, the importance of maintaining feed quality and ensuring value for money cannot be over-emphasized
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