Direct substitution of maize with sorghum in broiler diets

Syed Ali binS. Abu bakar, Yeong,S.W. and Seet, C.P

Abstract

Two feeding trials were conducted on commercial broilers fed graded levels of sorghum as a direct substitute for maize. Five experimental rations containing varying percentages of maize viz.60, 45 , 30, 15, 0% were used and these were replaced by sorghum at 15, 30, 45 and 60% level of the diets. The chicks were initially fed with broiler starter mash in the first four weeks and the experimental rations were provided from the fifth to the twelfth week of age. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in the feed intake, growth rate and feed conversion efficiency between the five groups. No problem which could be attributed to the presence of tannin in sorghum was encountered. Deficiency of xanthophyll in high level sorghum diets was observed to affect skin and shank pigmentation of the birds but this could be corrected by the addition of artificial xanthophyll in the diets.

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