Influence of modified feed troughs on performance and feed cost of finisher broilers

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the influence of modified feed troughs on the performance and cost of production of finisher broilers. A total of ninety (90) 4 weeks old birds were used for the experiment. They were divided into three treatments of thirty (30) birds each and replicated three times with ten (10) birds each, using a completely Randomized Design (CRD). The treatment groups were assigned with different feed troughs such that treatment 1 had the Conventional Feed Trough (CFT), treatment 2 had Beveled Edge Feed trough (BEF) and treatment 3 had the Partitioned Feed Trough (PFT). The birds were fed isonitrogenous and isocaloric commercial diet. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. Data were collected on initial body weight, final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio. Carcass characteristics and economics of production were further used to calculate the performance of finisher broilers under the three treatments. The data obtained were subjected to analysis variance and significant means were separated using Duncan multiple range test. Birds fed with the (BEF) showed highest significant (p<0.05) final body weight of 2853.33 g, total body weight gain of 1814.4 g per bird, total feed intake of 3122.96 g and best feed conversion ratio of 1.75 compared with birds under CFT and PFT. The results obtained for carcass analysis indicated that birds under BEF and PFT had significantly (p<0.05) higher weights of breast, wing, back, shank, heart and gizzard than CFT. The BEF gave the lowest unit cost of production of the finisher broiler (N1185.60) against the N1329.84 and N1324.47 for CFT and PFT respectively. The BEF is therefore adjudged best and recommended in controlling feed wastage and improving the performance of finisher broilers.