Utilisation of dried poultry manure in broiler rations

Abstract

An experiment was designed to study the effects of feeding three levels of dried poultry manure on broiler traits. One hundred and sixty commercial broiler chicks were divided randomly in to eight groups of twenty chicks to form four treatments of two replicates. The four dietary treatments were 0,10,20 and 30 per cent DPM in the diet. The diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Weekly body weights, weekly feed consumption and feed conversion efficiency were recorded. At eight weeks of age, six birds from each treatment were subjected to slaughter studies. The results of the study indicated that DPM can be used as a poultry feed ingredient without deleterious effect only up to 10 per cent in broiler ration to economise broiler production. It further revealed that incorporation at higher levels (20 and 30 per cent) significantly depressed growth. The feed efficiency was almost comparable among the treatment groups. Analysis of slaughter data revealed no significant difference among dietary treatments. Based on the above results, it appears reasonable to conclude that DPM can be exploited as a poultry feed ingredient and that it can be used up to 10 percent in the rations meant for broilers to economise broiler production.