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TEMPORARY INITIAL FEEDING OF LOW-QUALITY CHEAP DIET AS A MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR RAISING STARTER BROILERS.

A 5-week experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of temporary initial feeding of low-quality cheap diet on broiler starter performance, to determine if sufficient compensatory growth can be achieved at that phase of broiler production. Seventy-two (72) dayold broiler chicks of Anak strain were randomly distributed into two groups, A and B, using completely randomized design. Each group was replicated 3 times with 12 broiler chicks per replicate and each replicate housed in a pen measuring 1.5 m x 2 m. Broilers in group A were given a standard broiler starter diet continuously for 5 weeks while broilers in group B received a low-quality cheap diet based mainly on palm kernel cake and wheat offal for the first two weeks and then placed on the standard diet for the remaining three weeks of the trial. The birds were weighed at the beginning of the trial and weekly thereafter. The birds in group B recorded relatively less feed intake (28.03 g/day vs 27.10 g/day) and reduced daily body weight gain (18.48 g/day vs 16.87 g/day) in the first 2 weeks of the trial. However, their daily feed intake increased astronomically as from the third week following the withdrawal of the low-quality diet and its replacement with the standard diet. Similarly, their daily body weight gain increased such that at the end of the 5 weeks, they were able to significantly (P<0.05) overtake the birds in group A in final body weights (975.82 g vs 1084.10 g). Economic analysis of the study showed that the feed cost of producing the broilers in group B (N/kg broiler) was N206.04 as against N220.94 for group A, giving a saving of N14.32 per bird.