GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILER STARTER CHICKENS FED MAIWA MILLET (PENNISETUM GLAUCUM L.) AS A REPLACEMENT FOR DIETARY MAIZE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51791/njap.vi.5443Keywords:
Performance, starter, broiler, Maiwa millet, maizeAbstract
The geometric increase in consumer price for poultry and poultry products in Nigeria occasioned by increase in prices of conventional feed ingredients’ such as maize and soya bean, need to be looked into. Accordingly, this study was conducted to evaluate the replacement value of Maiwa millet for maize in broiler starter diets. A total of 300 broiler chicks weighing between 130.53 and 138.50g were allotted to five starter diets (23.00 % CP) in replicates of four containing 15 birds each in a completely randomized design. Feed and water were provided ad libitum and the experiment lasted for 4 weeks. In the diets, which were coded as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, Maiwa millet replaced maize at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 % levels respectively. The parameters studied were daily feed intake, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, final weight and mortality. Results showed no significant differences (P>0.05) among diets in all the performance parameters. Daily feed intake ranged from 46.43 to 47.22g, daily weight gain, from26.58 to 29.06g, while feed conversion ratio values varied between 1.61 and 1.76. Final weight of birds spanned from 876.25 to 950.04g. It was therefore concluded that Maiwa millet can completely replace
maize in starter broiler diets without compromising growth performance.
