Response of Broiler Chicks to high dietary level of super-concentrate

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to examine the effect of feeding broiler chicks diets supplemented with 5% or 8% Super concentrate as source of the two essential amino acids lysine and methionine. A total of 160 one day old, unsexed commercial chicks (Hubbard strain) were used in the experiment, after the first week where birds were kept for adaptation period, chicks were weighted and allotted to two treatments, each treatment was randomly assigned to 4 replicate, with each replicate containing 20 chicks. The trail last for 42 days. The health of the experimental chicks and mortality were closely observed. Growth data were recorded on an individual basis, while feed intake was recorded for each replicate and used for calculation of feed conversion. All parameters were measured at 2, 4 and 6 week of age. Feeding 8% super concentrate show no significant difference (p < .05) in feed intake at 2 weeks of age, but at 4 and 6 weeks of age the feeding of this high level of super concentrate resulted in a significant (p < .05 ) drop in feed consumption. This drop in feed intake, seem to be the reason for significantly high body weight at early age and significantly lower body weight at 6 week of age xii Feed to gain ratio results show a numerically efficient feed conversion for broiler fed 8% super concentrate at 4 and 6 week of age, with the difference only significant at 2 week of