Introduction
Poultry production is an important rapid growing money making industry. The advantage of poultry over other livestock is primarily due to the short and relatively quick turn over on investments and high quality protein products (Adeyemo et al., 2010). As a result of growing human population, there is high demand for poultry products (FAO, 2002). The rapid growth of broilers demands that they be supplied with high quality diets, which will satisfy both their nutritional demand as well as ensuring high profits. Feed cost is often a major limiting factor in chicken production. According to Akpodiete et al. (2001), feed alone accounts for 70-80% of total variable cost of intensive broiler production. Doma et al. (2001) and Uchegbu et al. (2007) reported inadequacies in the quality of some commercial feeds and poor performance by broiler birds that consumed them. This situation has serious implications on small scale poultry farmers, who have little capacity to produce their own feeds. It is hypothesized that farmers, who operate at a small- or medium-scale level and do not produce their own feeds but rely on relatively expensive commercial feeds, may be incurring higher feed costs than necessary. This study was therefore conducted to determine the comparative advantage of self-formulated feed over commercial feeds on growth performance, carcass yield, haematological parameters and economics of production.
Materials and methods
The experimental diets consisted of a self formulated finisher diet (Table 1), which served as control and four of the most commonly used commercial diets in Bauchi (Table 2), coded T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively. Each diet constituted a treatment and each replicated four times in a completely randomized design (CRD) with 11 birds per replicate for a total of 220 Anak 2000 broiler chicks. At starter phase all broiler chicks were fed with the same ration under the same management condition. The broiler finisher diet was formulated with ingredients commonly used by poultry farmers in the area and according to the NRC (1994) nutrients requirements for broilers (Table 1). Proximate composition and metabolizable energy (ME) of the feeds were determined by procedures of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC, 1990). Feed and water were provided ad libitum. Broiler finisher rations were fed from 5th to the 7th week of age. Daily feed intake (DFI) was calculated on daily basis while birds were weighed at weekly intervals to observe weight changes. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated as feed/gain ratio. At the end of the experiment, two birds per replicate were randomly selected from the five diets and fasted for 10 hours before slaughtering. Each bird was weighed and slaughtered by severing of the jugular vein to bleed. Birds were defeathered by scalding in hot water at 600 C. The live weight, plucked weight, eviscerated weight and carcass weight were measured and expressed in kilogram. Blood samples were collected from the jugular veins immediately after slaughter, into labeled bottles containing ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) which were gently rolled for proper mixing. Manual counts of the total red and white blood cells were carried out using haemocytometer (Campbell, 1995). Packed cell volume (PCV) was determined using micro-haematocrit capillary tubes, which were centrifuged at 2500 rpm for 5 minutes. Haemoglobin concentration (Hb) was also determined with the use of the cyanmethemoglobin method.
All data collected were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) as described by Steel & Torrie (1980) using the computer software package Minitab (2004) and significant differences between treatment means were separated using least significant difference (LSD) at P< 0.05. The cost of the commercial feeds and ingredients used in compounding the control diet were all recorded.
Table 1: Percentage formulation of control diet fed to broiler at the finisher phase
*Finisher Vitamin and mineral premix: provided per kg of diet: Vit. A 13,340 IU; Vit. D3 2680 IU, Vit. E 10; Vit. K 2.68 mg; Vit. B12 12.02 mg; Calcium pantothenate 10.68 mg; Folic acid 0.668 mg; Chloride 400 mg; Chlortetracycline 26.68 mg; Mn 133.34 mg; Fe 66.68 mg; Zn 53.34 mg; Cu 3.2 mg; Iodine 1.86 mg; Cobalt 0.268 mg; Se 0.108 mg
Table 2: Energy and nutrient compositions of control diet and four different commercial diets fed to broilers at the finisher phase (Means)
Note: T1 – Self formulated, T2 – T5 commercial diets, abc means with different superscripts differ significantly, LSD least significant difference, *** P< 0.001
Results
The growth performance of finisher broiler birds (Table 3) showed that average daily feed intake (DFI) ranged from 53.00 – 75.55g, daily weight gain (DWG) from 26.73 – 43.36 g and feed conversion ratio (FCR) 1.69 – 2.29 were significantly (P < 0.001) influenced by the treatments. During the finisher phase a total of 47 mortalities ranging between 4 and 14 birds recorded on T5 and T4 respectively. The effects of dietary treatments on live weight (LW), carcass weight and gut characteristics are presented in Table 4. The results indicated that the feeding of self formulated feed did not significantly influence (P> 0.05) the final LW when compared to other groups. The organs characteristics measured showed no significant (P> 0.05) effect of the treatments on lungs, liver, heart and kidney. The dressing percentage obtained ranged from 68.99 to 72.54% in birds did not differ among treatments. There was significant (P < 0.05) effect of diet on gizzard, spleen and abdominal fat. The highest (2.23%) gizzard value was observed in the T4 diet as compared to other treatments, which ranged from 1.69 to 2.21%. Results of haematological characteristics of the birds are presented in Table 5. Dietary treatments did not show significant effect (P > 0.05) on PCV, RBC and Haemoglobin levels. Similar trend was observed for lymphocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils and monocytes except WBC that was affected (P < 0.05) with the highest value obtained in the self formulated diet. Cost evaluation in Table 6 revealed that the self-formulated diet was cheaper to compound and had least cost of N 60.00 / kg feed.
Discussion
The effects of dietary treatments on growth performance of finisher broiler birds showed that average daily feed intake (DFI), daily weight gain (DWG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly influenced by the treatments (P < 0.001). These values were comparable to the report of Doma et al. (2001) in broilers fed different commercial diets. Birds fed under T4 had the lowest (53.00g/d) DFI which resulted in significantly lower (26.73g/d) weight gain (P < 0.001) as compared to other treatments. This could be attributed to the low protein content of the diet. Similar observations were also made by Hussein et al. (2001), who reported that low protein diet leads to poor performance. The results indicated that the feeding of self-formulated feed did not significantly influence (P> 0.05) the final LW and dressing percentage when compared to other groups. This finding was contrary to the report of Doma et al. (2001) who observed a significantly (P < 0.01) better final LW in broilers fed
Table 4: Carcass and organ yield (% live weight) of broilers fed different commercial and self-formulated diets
abc Means in the same row with different superscripts differ significantly; (P < 0.001) = ***; (P < 0.01) = **; (P < 0.05) = *; NS = Not significant.
Note: T1 = self – formulated diet; T2 – T5 = commercial diets; LSD = Least significant difference; !Each carcass, compose of the eviscerated weight of the chicken comprising: the wings, legs (drumstick), whole breast (with breast meat, back, bone and skin) and neck
Table 5: Haematological parameters of broilers fed four different commercial and self –formulated diets
Note: T1 = self-formulated diet; T2, - T5 commercial diets; ** level of significant (P< 0.01); NS = Not significant; LSD – least significant difference
Table 6: Economic analysis of broilers fed different commercial diets and control diet
Note: Values in parenthesis are the USD equivalents at CBN rate: $ 1 = ₦ 145.3 (CBN, 2009), T1 = self-formulated, T2 – T5 = commercial diets
self-formulated diet compared to those on commercial diets. The values for LW of chickens at the end of the experiment was numerically higher in T2 when compared to other groups. However, the significant (P < 0.001) increase on plucked weight, eviscerated weight, carcass weight and pancreas weight was similar to observations made by Doma et al. (2001). The lowest values for plucked weight (PW) and eviscerated weight (1.22 and 1.13 kg) respectively were obtained in T4. This could be attributed to the low feed intake observed. The organs characteristics measured showed no significant (P> 0.05) effect of the treatments on lungs, liver, heart and kidney. During the finisher phase a total of 47 mortalities was recorded which could be attributed to some disease conditions observed which include weakness (T1), rickets (T2), and mild arthritis (T3 andT4). These conditions may be due to nutritional deficiencies, stress and subclinical infections.
Dressing percentage ranged from 68.99 to 72.54% and did not differ amongst treatments. There were significant (P < 0.05) effects of diet on gizzard, spleen and abdominal fat. The highest value was observed in the T4 diet on gizzard (2.23%) as compared to other treatments, which ranged from 1.69 to 2.23%. This finding could be attributed to high fiber contents in the diet and is similar to the reports of González-alvarado et al. (2007), Mateos et al. (2012) and Varastegani & Dahlan (2014) who reported that feeding high fiber diets enhanced relative length and weight of intestine, caeca and sizes of various digestive components resulting in decreasing dressing percentage.
Dietary treatments did not show significant effect (P > 0.05) on PCV, RBC and Haemoglobin levels. Similar trend was observed for lymphocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils and monocytes except the WBC with the highest (P < 0.05) in birds fed control diet.
There is evidence in literature that haematological characteristic of livestock is suggestive of their physiological disposition of the plane of nutrition (Madubuike & Ekenyemi 2006). The high value of 3.28 x 109 g/L WBC observed in T2 was significantly (P < 0.01) greater than the values obtained in the 4 remaining treatments. This could be as a result of mild infection observed which may cause mobilization of cells from the marginal pool (Reece, 2004). The lower values obtained in T3 and T4 of 2.24 x 109 g/L and 2.18 x 109 g/L respectively were statistically similar. The average values recorded in this study for RBC, PCV, Haemoglobin and other values for the differential counts showed no significant (P > 0.05) differences among dietary treatments, but were slightly above normal. This finding is consistent with the findings of Olorede et al. (1996) who indicated that haematological and erythrocytic indices in the broilers fed sheabutter cake or palm kernel cake were generally similar. The highest and lowest values for eosinophils: 1.38 and 1.00% recorded in T4 and T2 respectively, did not differ significantly and were within the normal range. Similar trend was observed in the values for basophils and monocytes. The relatively high values for lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes recorded in this study are not unusual and are suggestive of adequate immunity of birds in all the treatments.
Cost evaluation revealed that the self-formulated diet was cheaper to compound and had least cost of N 60.00 / kg feed. This finding is similar to report by Apantaku et al. (2006) in Oyo area where poultry farmers prefer and use self-formulated feeds instead of commercially compounded feeds, which is perceived to be of higher quality and lower cost. The highest feed cost of N 90.00/kg was recorded on T3 diet.
Feed utilization efficiency as feed cost in N / kg gain was observed to be lowest in birds feed T1 diet as N124.67k followed by T4 with N 132.98k and the highest observed in birds fed T3 with N 190.29k. The low feed cost (N /kg feed) in self – formulated feeds during in this study agreed with the results of Adeshinwa et al. (1996), Adebayo et al. (2002) and Afolayan et al. (2009) who reported that on – farm feeds are cheaper than commercial feeds.
In conclusion, the study indicates that most of the commercial feeds used in the study area could be successfully substituted by self-formulated feed at the finisher stage.
Using self-formulated feed at finisher stage will be cheaper and may attract more profit to the farmer as compared to the commercial feeds. The replacement in this study did not show any detrimental effect on carcass yield, internal organs and haematological parameters.
This article was originally published in Sokoto Journal of Veterinary Sciences, Volume 13 (Number 2). August, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/sokjvs.v13i1.1.
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