Effect of Feeding Locally Produced Soybean Meal and Fishmeal on the Performance of Broiler Chicks

This study was carried out to determine the effect of the inclusion of Soybean meal and fish meal on the broiler chicks performance. One hundred and sixty unsexed day-old chicks were used in this study and distributed randomly into 16 pens (10/pen) as replicates in a completely randomized design. The chicks were assigned to four experimental diets: Diet A containing imported concentrate, Diet B containing a mixture of 75 % of soybean and 25 % fish meal, Diet C containing 25 % imported concentrates and 75% the mixture, and Diet D containing 50% imported concentrates and 50% of the mixture. Feed intake, feed conversion ratio, body weight gain and mortality rate were recorded weekly, while the carcass weight, dressing percentage, weight of the internal organs (liver, spleen, heart and abdominal fat (and serum contents (blood cholesterol, total lipids, glucose, albumen and protein) were determined at the end of the experimental period. The results showed that the birds fed Diet A consumed significantly (P<0.01) higher feed (3728.4 g) and gained more life weight (1818 g). The feed conversion ratio was not affected by treatments, although the birds fed diet A recorded the best value (2.05). For carcass weight and dressing percentage, the birds fed diet A recorded the highest values 1551.25g and 72.28% respectively. The same trend was reported in the internal organs liver, heart, and fats wherein diet A recorded the highest value 60.0, 12.5 and 23.1g respectively. For blood biochemical, the birds fed diet A had the highest value of protein, cholesterol, and lipids while the birds fed diet B recorded the highest value of glucose. It could be concluded that the inclusion of locally prepared Soybean and fish meal reduced the performance of the broiler chicks and the control diet had the best broiler performance.