Different basal source of energy as alternative to Maize (Zea mays) in Turkey diet

Abstract

Maize is a major source of energy in the diet of turkey. Increase in the cost of maize has been a major challenge to poultry farmers. Therefore, there is need to explore available and cheaper alternatives. A twenty-four weeks trial was conducted to investigate the effect of using different source of energy in turkey’s diets as alternative for maize on the growth performance and lipid profile. Four diets for both starter and finisher phase were used, control diet (maize as the energy source), sweet potato (SP), guinea corn (GC) and cassava (CA). 30-day-old-poults were randomly allocated into 4pens with at least 7poults per pen. Lipid profile, weekly body weight, daily feed intake, final weight gain and feed conversion ratio were recorded. The result revealed no significant difference in the final body weight of turkey when SP was used as alternative to maize at starter phase. At the finisher phase, there was a numerical increase in the final weight of turkeys fed SP diet when compared to GC and CA diet. No significant difference in the FCR was observed when SP and CA were used as alternative to maize. The total cholesterol (TC) value was not significant when SP was used as alternative to maize but there was a significant increase in TC value when CA and GC were used as alternative to maize. It can be concluded that sweet potato can be used as an alternative to maize without adverse effects on performance of turkey and its lipid profile.