EFFECT OF FEED TEXTURE ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, DRESSING PERCENTAGE AND ORGAN WEIGHT OF BROILERS

Comparative efficacy of two important forms of feed, mash and crumbles, fed alone or in combination (mash-crumbs), was studied on growth performance, dressing percentage and organ weight of broilers. One hundred twenty broiler chicks were used in the present study and were fed mash, crumbles and mash-crumbs feed for 0-6 weeks of age. Four treatments, designated as A, B, C and D were used in this experiment. Chicks in group A were kept on mash feeding serving as control and those in group B were offered crumbles. Group C was fed mash from day old to two weeks and crumbles from three to six weeks of age while group D was offered mash from day old to four weeks and then crumbles were fed for next two weeks of age. The results of the experiment showed that different forms of feed exhibited significant (P 0.05) effect on overall weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of the broilers. Whereas, feed consumption, dressing percentage and relative weights of liver, heart, gizzard, spleen, pancreas, intestine and abdominal fat pad of the birds remained unaffected due to different forms of feed. The broilers maintained upon crumbles throughout the experimental period, fetched maximum profit than other treatment groups.