Nutritional status and growth performance of Fijian local chickens and their crosses with broilers under different production systems

Abstract

The study compared nutrient content intake and growth performance of local chickens and local x broilers crossbreds under scavenging and indoor conventional systems. A total of 48 male and 48 female chickens for each of the two chicken types were allocated to four outdoor free-range pens and allowed to scavenge whilst being supplemented with sorghum plus kitchen waste and broilers growers from week 5 to week 13 of age. The same design was repeated on indoor pens with the chickens being fed the same diets without scavenging. The crops and gizzards contents from local chickens had the same crude protein and crude fat as their crosses with broilers under both systems (P > 0.05). The energy content of crop and gizzard contents from scavenging chickens was lower than that from chickens under indoor conventional system (P < 0.05). Chickens of the same type had high iron content in their crops and gizzards contents under scavenging system than the conventional system (P < 0.05). Local chickens and their crosses with broilers had higher growth rates under the scavenging system than the indoor production system (P < 0.05). Local chickens and their crosses with broilers had the same growth rates when fed the same diet (P > 0.05). Crossbreds between local chickens and broilers matches the scavenging abilities of the local chickens but have lower growth rates under scavenging systems.