Effects of omitting vitamin- mineral premixes from finisher diets on performance, carcass parameters and blood characteristics of broilers fed maize- or wheat- based diets

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of cereal sources (maize or wheat) and omitting premix from finisher diets (from 29 to 42 days of age) on broiler performance, carcass measurements, and blood biochemical properties. Before starting an experiment, chicks were fed on two dietaries (240 chicks/maize-soybean meal and 240 chicks/wheat-soybean meal diets) from one-day old to 28 d of age. Four hundred and eighty day-old Ross-308 male broiler chicks were used in a 14-day trial (from 3/11/2016 to 16/11/2016). The experiment consisted of 4 treatments as follows: Treatment 1, no withdrawn of premix from maize-soybean meal diets, treatment 2, withdrawal premix from maize-soybean meal diets, treatment 3, no withdrawn of premix from wheat-soybean meal based diets and treatment 4, withdrawal premix from wheat-soybean meal diets. Each dietary treatment consisted of 8 replicates (15 birds/ pen). Body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratios, carcass parameters, blood biochemical properties were not affected by the withdrawal of vitamin and trace mineral premixes from maize-based diets, but the reduction in body weight gain, relative weight of heart, bursa of Fabricius and abdominal fat was noticed in birds fed wheat-based diets deficient in vitamins-minerals premixes. Blood biochemical properties were not affected by cereal type and vitamins-minerals premix withdrawal.