Performance of broiler chickens fed different animal protein sources as replacement for fish meal

Abstract

Searching for least cost feed component should be extended to unconventional feedstuffs that are locally available and cheaper to come by. Therefore, an eight-week experiment was carried out to determine the effect of different protein sources (maggot, termite, grasshopper and lizard meal) on performance of broiler chickens. A total of one hundred and fifty (150), one day-old broiler chicks of Marshall Breed were used for the experiment. An eight-weekstudy was conducted to evaluate the performance of broiler chickens fed the four different sources of animal protein. Diet I contained 5% fish meal while Diets 2, 3, 4 and 5 contained 5% maggot meal, termite meal, grasshopper meal and lizard meal, respectively at the starter phase. The finisher phase contained 2.5kg each of the protein sources respectively. The chicks were allotted to five dietary treatments each replicated thrice with ten birds perreplicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). Proximate composition of the test ingredients showed that lizard meal had the highest (55.66%) crude protein and crude fibre (5.53%). Termite meal exhibited highest (26.46%) ether extract followed by maggot meal (9.79%) with the lowest (4.02%) from lizard meal. The feed intake value (4700.16g) in birds fed diet 1 was significantly (P<0.05) higher than others. Birds fed Diet 2 showed significant (P< 0.05) better final weight gain (2367g) than those fed other test ingredients. Birds fed diet 2 (maggot meal) performed better than others in absolute weight gain (2287g) which is very close to those fed fish meal (Diet 1). In conclusion, maggot meal in this study enhanced performance and is thus recommended as a replacement for fish meal.