Performance and energy metabolisability of broiler finisher chickens fed red and white sorghum-based diets supplemented with methionine

Abstract

The study evaluated the growth performance and energy metabolisability of finisher broiler chickens fed red and white sorghum-based diets supplemented with methionine. One hundred and forty-four broiler chickens were randomly allotted to six dietary treatment groups of red and white sorghum as well as control diets based on maize, each at two inclusion levels of methionine (0.2% and 0.6%). At the 8 th week of the study, six birds per treatment were selected for energy metabolisability study. Results showed comparable performance in feed conversion ratio among birds fed dietary treatments, though birds fed the control diets had significantly (p<0.05) higher daily gain and final body weight while those fed the red sorghum-based diets recorded the poorest performance. Also, birds fed the sorghum-based diets had lower feed intake compared to those on control. All the birds fed experimental diets had higher apparent and true metabolisable energy values that were superior (p<0.05) to those of the control. It can be concluded that, finisher broiler chickens fed red and white sorghum-based diets produced inferior growth performance compared with those on maize diets, and methionine supplementation improved the apparent and true metabolisable energy values of sorghum-based diets fed to the broiler chickens.