Comparative study of feeding frequencies on growth characteristics of four strains of broiler chickens

Abstract

The poultry industry has evolved in recent years owing to the high demand for chicken meat. However, about 60 to 70% of broiler production cost is on feed. Thus, it becomes critical to make concerted efforts to reduce feed cost without compromising overall poultry productivity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of feeding the birds twice (12 hourly) or thrice (8 hourly) on some growth characteristics of the birds. The birds were fed using commercially compounded broiler feeds [Starter (0-4 weeks) and Finisher (5-10 weeks)]. Data collected on weight was subjected to preliminary exploratory boxplot and normality analyses, and at the end of the study total of 211 of the original 304 birds were statistically evaluated. Strain, feeding frequency and sex all exerted significant (P<0.05) influence albeit at varying levels, on growth parameters. The model explained 36.2 percent of total variation with each of the factors respectively accounting for 33.23%, 1.37% and 1.60%. The largest source of variation was from the differences in strain, while the least was recorded on the feeding frequency. The study revealed that twice daily (12 hourly) feeding had a better impact on the parameters studied, while the male had superior performance over the female and difference due to strain was only pronounced in the Marshall which had the least values in all parameters studied. It is therefore recommended that broiler birds are fed twice daily (12 hourly), thereby reducing labour cost and frequency of disturbance to the birds.