Effect of feed nutritional composition on growth and performance of commercial broiler

Abstract

Broiler farming is popular in Bangladesh because it requires low investment but quick return. This study was conducted to assess the effect of feed nutritional composition on growth and performance of commercial broiler. For this study, starter and grower feed samples (3 brands) and production performance data was collected from 9 broiler farms (3 from each brand fed) by face-to-face interview with pre-tested questionnaire. The feed was analyzed by proximate analysis to find out the nutrition composition. The effect of feed composition was then finding out by comparing the data from different farms of different feed brand categories. Results demonstrated that, the highest crude protein (CP) was found broiler starter feed of brand 3 (19%) and lowest in brand 2 (18.68%).The results also showed that lowest metabolized energy (ME) was found in Brand 3 (2851.19 kcal/kg of feed) and highest in brand2 (2941.17 kcal/kg of feed).In case of broiler grower feed, CP of Brand1 was lowest (17.56%), while brand2 and brand3 contained equal amount of CP (17.89%).Highest energy provided the brand 1 (3001.03 kcal/kg) whereas lowest ME was found in brand 2. Considering performance parameters, cumulative feed intake and cumulative weight gain were highest in brand 3 (2471.43±102.95 g and 2320.52±30.08 g, respectively). The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was statistically equal irrespective of brands of feed although numerically better feed efficiency was found in brand 1 (FCR, 1.01). In starter, dry matter (DM), Ash and Energy contents of feed showed strong negative correlation (r<-0.7) with feed intake and weight gain whereas CP showed strong positive correlation with feed intake and weight gain. In grower, dry matter (DM) and crude fiber (CF) and Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE) showed strong positive correlation with feed intake and weight gain (0.7< r < 1.0) and Ash showed strong negative correlation (1< r ≤ - 0.7). While comparing with the reference value it shows that the feed composition of all 3 brands is not up to the mark but the feed conversion ratio of all brands was better than the recommended reference value of 1.322, indicating efficient feed utilization.