NUTRIENT INTAKE OF PULLET CHICKS FED VARING LEVELS OF MAIZE AND MAIZE OFFAL BASED DIETS

Résumé

A study was carried out for 49 days to determine the nutrient intake of pullet chicks fed maize and maize offal based diets. Ninety day old pullet chicks were randomly divided into five treatments of 18 birds per treatment. Each treatment was replicated three times with six birds per replicate. The five treatments T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 were fed five diets in which maize offal replaced maize at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% respectively. The .Samples of the five experimental diets were analyzed for their proximate composition using the methods of AOAC (2000). The nutrient was calculated from the proximate values of the feeds and the feed intake values. The experimental design was a completely randomized design (CRD). Data were subjected to a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Significant treatment means were separated using Duncan’s multiple range test. The proximate composition shows that there were significant (P>0.05) differences in the values for all the parameters. The values for dry matter and nitrogen free extracts intakes ranged from 23.60 – 34.00g/day and 13.98 – 22-10g/day respectively. It was concluded that maize offal can replace maize in diets for pullet chicks at 25% without adverse effects on nutrient Intake. Further research focusing on other replacement levels aas well as other classes of poultry was recommended.