GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILER STARTER CHICKENS FED MAIWA MILLET (Pennisetum glaucum L.) IN COMBINATION WITH DIFFERENT PLANT PROTEIN SOURCES

Abstract

A 28 day study was conducted to evaluate the performance of broiler starter chickens fed diet containing maiwa millet (MM) in combination with different plant sources. A total of 288 marshal broiler chicks weighing between 133.78 to 137.54g were allotted to four starter diets in replicates of four containing 18 birds each in a completely randomized design (CRD). Four diets containing maiwa millet in combination with full fat soya bean (FFSB), soya bean meal (SBM), local groundnut cake (LGNC) and industrial groundnut cake (IGNC) coded T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively were fed to the birds. The parameters studied were daily feed intake (DFI), daily weight gain (DWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), final weight and mortality. Productive Performance of Broiler starter chickens fed maiwa millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) in combination with different plant protein sources. The result indicated that feed intake and feed conversion ratio did not differ (P<0.05) among treatments and ranged between 54.67 to 60.43g and 2.44 to 2.66 respectively. However, daily weight gain showed a significant (P>0.05) effect of diets on birds fed diets T2 (23.07g) and T4 (23.24g) which were similar. The result of final weight also revealed a significant (P<0.05) effect of diets among treatments with birds fed diets T2 (779.74g) and T4 (788.26g) having higher values. It can be concluded that maiwa millet + soya bean meal or maiwa millet + industrial groundnut cake diets were superior to other combinations used in the study