PERFORMANCE ATTRIBUTES OF BROILER FED COMMERCIAL AND SELFFORMULATED DIET DURING WET SEASON MAIZE

Abstract

Contamination of maize by mycotoxin happens to be a challenging problem in wet season maize. This study evaluated the chemical composition of wet season maize from selected feed mills in Ile-Ife and the feeding value of such maize. Three representative maize samples were collected from three popular feed mills within Ile-Ife for chemical screening. One of the maize samples was used to formulate the experimental diet while a popular brand of commercial feed was also obtained from Ile-Ife as a control. Eighty day old broiler chicken were used and randomly distributed into two groups of four replicates, each replicate contained 10 birds. Feeding trial was carried for six weeks to determine performance attributes. Two birds per replicate were dissected for clinical observations of internal organs at the end of feeding trial. Data obtained on performance traits were subjected to T-test. Results indicated that, there were variations in proximate composition among the samples. Crude protein fell by 11.54%; ether extract by 12.72% and 1.12% in ash while the total aflatoxin content in the sampled maize rose appreciably to 267.41 µg/kg from 0.23μg/kg in Aflasafe maize. FCR of bird on self-formulated rose such that cost per kilogram body weight of the birds almost double that of birds placed on the commercial feed. Clinical signs observed include: stunted growth, cloaca prolapse, diarrhea, ascite, liver cirrhosis, widespread lesions in gizzard and high mortality. It was concluded that wet season maize should be cautiously used in formulating feed for broilers