Effect of feeding sheep and camel fat based diet on broiler performance and feed utilization

Abstract

The current study was conducted to examine the effect of sheep and camel fat on broiler performance. Twenty eight day-old unsexed broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly selected and distributed into three finisher diet treatment groups (100 chicks per treatment) with 4 replicates of 25 birds each. The birds were fed on the diets for 3 weeks. The finisher diet treatments were control which contained 0% fat; treatment two contained 3%sheep fat while treatment three contained 3% camel fat. Live body weight, body weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio, lysine efficiency ratio, efficiency of energy utilization, water consumption, relative water consumption٫ production efficiency factor, carcass characteristics and blood cholesterol level were determined. High significant values (p<0.01) were obtained in live body weight, body weight gain, carcass weight٫ water consumption ٫ feed conversion ratio ٫lysine efficiency ratio and production efficiency factor for the birds fed sheep and camel fat based diet compared to the control group gave the pest results. Dressing% and blood serum cholesterol showed significant difference (p<0.05). No significant differences were found in feed consumption, efficiency of energy utilization and protein efficiency ratio due to diet treatment. The study concluded that feeding sheep and camel fat based diets improved broiler performance.