A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SOME PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF COBB AND ROSS BROILER STRAINS FED RATIONS WITH VARYING LEVELS OF PALM KERNEL OIL RESIDUE (PKOR)

SAMUEL OFORI 215 PAGES (40975 WORDS) Animal Science Thesis

Abstract A  comparative  study  was  conducted  on  some  performance characteristics with 225 each of Cobb 500 and Ross 308 broiler chickens fed three rations in which PKOR replaced wheat bran at 0% (control), 10% and 20% levels. There were 6 treatments (of 75 birds each) and 3 replicates (of 25 birds  each),  in  a  completely  randomized  designed 2x3  factorial  experiment. The trial used 3-week old broiler chicks over a 5 week period. The effects of genotype,  ration  and  their  interactions  on  some  growth  parameters,  carcass traits,  haematological  and  serological  traits  were  assessed.  The  effects  of genotype  and  ration  on  most  of  the  carcass,  haematological  and  serological traits  evaluated  were  not  significant  (p>0.05).  The  growth  traits  evaluated were also similar (p>0.05) for both Cobb 500 and Ross 308 birds. On the other hand,  there  were  significant  (p0.05). The effects of genotype × ration interaction on all performance parameters assessed were not significant(p>0.05); implying that farmers can raise either Cobb 500 or Ross 308  on  any  of  the  three  rations  offered  without  any  detrimental  effects  on performance  and  would  make  savings/profit  in  feed  cost/kg  weight  gain  of GH¢0.70 when PKOR is used in broiler ration up to 20% inclusion rate