Response of Broilers to Improved and Local Fishmeal

Abstract

A 42 day experiment with 204 one day old Marshal broilers was conducted to assess
the nutritional quality of two imported- and two local-fishmeal using the biological
response of broilers as a measure of performance. These birds were randomly
distributed into four dietary treatments namely two commercially available imported
fishmeal (A, B) and a commercially available local fishmeal (C). Finally, a manually
prepared fishmeal from African Butter Catfish (Schible mystus) [D] was the last one.
A completely randomised design was adopted for the study. The results of the
proximate composition the fishmeal showed that local manually prepared fishmeal D
(African Butter Catfish, Schible mystus) had the highest crude protein (47.6% CP)
while the local commercially available fishmeal C had the lowest CP (15.95%). The
imported fishmeal A and B have 34.3 and 28.06%CP, respectively. Dietary treatment
significantly influenced the final body weight FBW (P=0.0002), weight gain WG
(P=0.0002), feed intake (P=0.010) and feed conversion FC (P0.006) of broiler
chicks. Broiler starters fed African Butter Catfish, Schible mystus (D) had the
heaviest FBW and WG with the best FC. Those fed commercially available local
fishmeal C had the lowest FBW and WG. Starters fed manually prepared fishmeal D
had significantly better FBW and WG than those fed imported fishmeal B. At
finishing phase, broilers fed imported fishmeal A and B as well as those fed manually
prepared fishmeal D had significantly better FBW than those fed local available
fishmeal C. Broiler chickens fed fishmeal C had the heaviest kidney with elevated
serum alkaline phosphatase. In conclusion, the poor quality of local commercially
available fishmeal C and the consequential poor biological response of broilers in
this study revealed that a number of feedstuff particularly fishmeal were often being
adulterated. Hence, the regulatory institutions such Nigeria Institute of Animal
Science need to regulate the quality of the feeding ingredients being sold in the
markets because of its economic and health related effect on the consumers of broiler
products