week old finisher broilers of
Ross breed were used to study
the effect of feeding maggot meal replacing fish meal on growth performance, nutrient
digestibility, carcass and organ
characteristics. The birds were
divided into 5 treatment groups
identified as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5
with 24 birds in each group. Each group was further replicated 3
times with 8 birds per replicate.
Five experimental diets were
formulated at T1 (0%), T2 (20%),
T3 (30%), T4 (40%) and T5 (50%)
maggot meal inclusion levels replacing fish meal and fed to the birds in a completely randomized
design (CRD). Water and feed
were served ad libitum. The
experiment lasted for 5 weeks.
The results on daily weight gain
and feed conversion ratio were similar (p>0.05) between the
birds fed maggot meal diets, but, differed significantly (p0.05) in
their crude fiber digestibility,
however, they differed
significantly from those of the
30, 40 and 50% maggot meal diets in crude fiber digestibility.
The dressed weight heart,
gizzard and abdominal fats
contents differed significantly
(p0.05). The results of this study
suggest that maggot meal can be incorporated in broiler finisher
diets up to 50% replacing fish meal without adverse effects on the growth, nutrient digestibility
and carcass organ
characteristics.
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