Performance and organ characteristics of broiler chickens fed varying levels of rumen content

Abstract

A trial was carried out to evaluate the effect of replacing wheat offal with rumen content on the growth performance of broiler chickens. A total of one hundred and fifty (150), one day-old broiler chicks were randomly allotted to five (5) dietary treatments containing 0, 5, 10% inclusion levels of sundried rumen content and 5 and 10% inclusion levels of roasted rumen content as a replacement to wheat offal. Each treatment was replicated three times with five (5) birds per replicate in a completely randomized design experiment. The trial lasted for eight (8) weeks. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the final weights, daily feed intake, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio at the starter phase and finisher phases. Furthermore, no significant differences in the final weight (1346.60-1508.50g), daily feed intake (83.57-100.00g), and daily weight gain (36.43-39.53g), and were observed for the overall performance. However, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) in the feed conversion ratio with the highest being 2.69g and the lowest 2.33g in the overall performance. From these findings, it could be concluded that rumen content could replace wheat offal without any detrimental effect on the performance of broiler chickens.