Abstract
This study was designed to compare the effects of different cereal grains on growth performance of broiler starter chickens. In a completely randomized design, 225 ten-day-old Marshall broiler chicks were allotted 5 dietary treatments containing Yellow maize (YM), White maize (WM), Guinea corn (GC), Millet (ML) and Cereal Processing Offal's (CPO) as the main energy contributors. Each treatment comprised of 45 birds made up of 3 replicates of 15 birds. The study lasted for 18 days. Results showed that average daily feed intake (83.54, 79.50, 81.35, 74.82, 62.03g/day), average daily weight gains (38.95, 34.84, 34.89, 27.06, 26.09g/day), feed conversion ratio (2.14, 2.28, 2.33, 2.77, and 2.38) and feed cost per kilogram gain (₦ 237.54, 243.23, 270.97, 241.46 and 183.12) in that order respectively differed significantly (P<0.05) between dietary treatments. Birds fed diets containing maize as major source of energy were better than the birds fed the other treatments in growth performance. However, the birds fed diets containing cereal processing offal's were significantly (P<0.05) cheaper to raise compared to the other treatments. Therefore, cereal processing offal’s may be used solely or in combination with maize as major energy source in broiler starter diets for cost effective feeding.
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