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 bi