Performance Characteristics and Nutrient Utilization by Meat Type Chicken Fed Fusarium oxysporum Degraded Brewer Dried Grain

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of Fusarium oxysporum degraded Brewer dried grain (BDG) on the performance and nutrient utilization ofbroiler chicken at starter and finisher phases. Undegraded and degraded (BDG) werewas used to compound rations for broiler birds for 8 weeks. The undegraded BDG was used at 7% inclusion level and the degraded BDG was used at 3, 5, and 7%. A total of 150 day old chicks were randomly selected and allocated for 5 treatments. Thirty 30 birds were allocated to each treatment with three replicates each. Fusarium oxysporum was inoculated into BDG through Solid State Fermentation for a period of 7 days. This was used as degraded sample. There was improvement in the crude protein, ash, and gross energy after biodegradation. Biodegradation led to reduction in crude fibre, cellulose, hemicellulose, and detergent fibre content. At starter phase, there were significant (P<0.05) (P=0.05) differences in feed consumption and body weight gain and the highest feed consumption (FC) and body weight gain (BWG) were found in treatment 5, which contained 7% degraded BDG (DBDG) and the FC and BWG they were 88.93 and 41.07g/bird/day, respectively. At the finisher phase, there were significant (P=0.05) differences in both the average feed intake and the average body weight gain by the birds. The highest feed intake was found in treatment 5 (140 g/b/d) and the highest body weight gain was also observed in treatment 5 (78.21g/b/d). Significant differences (P=0.05) were also observed for the feed conversion ratio at the finisher phase. The best value (1.64) was recorded at the control treatment and this was followed by the value recorded for treatment 5 (1.79). The relative cost benefits revealed that it is profitable to feed broilers with F. oxysporum degraded BDG. The results showed that F. oxysporum was able to enhance the feeding value of BDG and this impacted positively on the feed consumption and body weight gain by the birds.