GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND COST BENEFITS OF BROILER CHICKENS FED GRADED LEVELS OF DRIED SWEET ORANGE PEEL MEAL AT STARTER PHASE

Abstract

The study was conducted at the poultry unit of Animal Production Teaching and Research Farm of Federal University of Technology Minna Niger State in October, 2018, to determine the growth performance and cost benefits of broiler chickens fed graded levels of Dried Sweet Orange Peel Meal (DSOPM). Five different diets (Treatments ‘T’) namely the control (T1) and four test diets T2, T3,T4 and T5 in which the DSOPM replace maize at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%, respectively. Each diet served as a treatment and each treatment was replicated three (3) times in a complete randomized design. There were ten (10) birds per replicate making a total of one hundred and fifty (150) Broiler birds for the study. The experiment lasted for four (4) weeks. The results obtained showed significant difference (P< 0.05) in average body weight, average body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency as the level of DSOPM in the diets increased. Initial body weight, average feed intake as. Feed conversion ratio was negatively affected whereas protein efficiency was positively affected. The value of cost benefit parameters were significantly different from each other (P<0.05). The result of this study shows that the inclusion of DSOPM has effect on the growth performance of broiler chicken and lead to reduction in cost benefit as the percentage inclusion of DSOPM increases.