Research Information System
Archiv fur Geflugelkunde, vol.70, no.1, pp.8-13, 2006 (SCI-Expanded)
This experiment was designed to assess the usage of wheat or maize with cotton seed meal in free choice feeding system under experimental condition with respect to feed intake, diet selection, growth performance and some carcass parameters in broiler chickens. In total, 114 female broiler chicks (28-d, 1416 ± 14.5 g) were divided into 7 experimental groups, each including 15 to 17 birds kept individually. Control birds were fed finisher diet while treatment groups were subjected to free choice feeding with two different feeds - energetic diet, nitrogenous diet - which were offered to chicks in separate feeders simultaneously for 14 days. Six energetic feeds were made by additions to finisher diet with either maize or wheat at 20%, 40% and 80%, separately, while 3 nitrogenous feeds were made by the same previous addition levels with cotton seed meal. Feeds having same inclusion rates for both energetic and nitrogenous diets were offered birds simultaneously to make treatment groups (20W&CSM, 20M&CSM, 40W&CSM, 40M&CSM, 80W&CSM, 80M&CSM). Finisher diet included 200 g crude protein and 12.97 MJ ME kg-1. At the end of experiment, birds were sacrificed to determine their carcass parameters. The results showed that 20 and 40% dietary inclusion of raw materials to finisher diet in free choice feeding system provided similar performance and carcass parameters as finisher diet alone, suggesting that finisher diet can be diluted 20% with one of ground cereals wheat or maize and cotton seed meal in free choice feeding system to save approximately 8% feed cost. © Verlag Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgart.