Growth performance and energy metabolisability of finisher broiler chickens fed red and white sorghum-based diets supplemented with methionine [electronic resource]

Includes bibliographic reference.

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 8th 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.
Key words: performance, sorghum, maize, methionine, broiler chickens