Effects of blood meal, chicken offal meal and fish meal as sources of methionine and lysine in starter cockerel diets

Abstract

The effects were studied of using combinations or plant protein sources, GNC, Palm Kernel cake, and  cotton and seed cake diets, supplementeil with 4 sources of methionine (M) and Lysine (L), synthetic M + L, blood meal + M, fish meal, or chicken offal meal (COM) in 8-Week 3 x 4 factorial experiment with sta11er cockerels. Sources of Mand L did not affect mean daily gain of the birds but significant differences (P< 0.05) were  observed in feed intke, feed per gain ratio, protein efficiency ratio (PER), nitrogen retention (NR) as well as economy of feed conversion. Maximum weight, best feed conversion ratio, PER and economy of feed  conversion were observed in the M+L dietary group followed by those on blood meal + M supplementary group where maximum NR was observed. The least response values (except NR) were obtained in the COM group. This study indicated thnt starter cockerels (0-8 weeks) fed diets supplemented with synthetic methionine and lysine gave the most optiomtl perfornrnnce.

Keywords: Cockerels, performance, blood meal, chicken offol meal, fish meal, methionine and lysine.