Comparative Analysis of Broilers’ Rearing in Different Housings Systems in Wet Humid Climate, South West Nigeria

Abstract

The experiment was 2 × 4 factorial design of 2 levels: deep litter and cage and 4 replicates for each. The replicates were labelled PA, PB, PC and PD for the deep litter while the cages were labelled C1- C10, A1- A10, G1-G10 and E1- E10. The birds were fed ad libitum of broiler growers for the first four weeks and broiler finisher for the last four weeks with equal water supply. Measurement of experimental parameters started from third week, initial weights and subsequent weekly weights were taken till eighth week. Total birds’ weights per pen and cage were recorded weekly to find out the economic usage of both systems and cost implication of rearing. The experiment was performed twice with two set of birds -same age and weight bracket in April – June (AJ) and July – September (JS) in the same year and house. One-way ANOVA and paired t-test were used for statistical analysis for the weights and weight gains/losses, chickcop economic analysis was also used. Significant (p = 0.029; p<0.05) different was observed between the weights of broilers and different housing systems in AJ and JS experiments. The battery cage gave highest body weight gains/week, 28.00±1.21 g and 28.00±0.90 g respectively for pen and cage. Final weight of the broilers at 8th week was 1.696 ± 0.71 kg in cage E.  There were stronger relationships between different housing systems and body weights of the broilers with R² ranges between 0.999 and 1. JS had 1.63% increase of weight gains over the AJ. Proximate analysis revealed that both housing systems did not affect the meat quality of the broilers. The Total Production Costs in Naira, (TPC), were higher in battery cage, but had high values for figure of merit, thus with higher economic benefits at long term.

Keywords: battery cage, broilers, deep litter, economic analysis, southwest Nigeria