Open AccessEVALUATION OF BLOOD-RUMEN CONTENT MIXTURE IN THE DIETS OF STARTER CHICKS
Author(s) -
A. A. Adeniji,
O. O. Balogun
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
nigerian journal of animal production
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0331-2062
DOI - 10.51791/njap.v28i2.1868
Subject(s) - starter , rumen , food science , biology , zoology , body weight , soya bean , chemistry , fermentation , endocrinology
A trial with 234 day-old Olympian Black pullet chicks was conducted for a duration of eight weeks to determine the optimum level of inclusion of Blood-Rumen content Mixture (BRC) in the diet of starter chicks. Chicks were fed ad-libitum starter diets containing 0, 5, 10, 15, 20% BRC and another 20% BRC diet containing no soya bean cake. Birds on all BRC-based diets had higher body weight gains and higher feed intakes than birds on the control diet. A progressive increase in feed: gain ratio was observed from 10%BRC to 20% BRC in the diets. The decline in the performance of chicks fed higher levels of BRC in the diet is suggested to be due to the high crude fiber content and possible amino acid imbalance of such diets. The results of this trial shows that starter pullets should not be fed more than 10% BRC.