Improving the Utilization of Sorghum Spent Grain (Pito Mash) in Broiler Diets by Treating with Plantain Peels Ash Extract

Abstract

Two hundred and forty day-old broiler chicks were used in an experiment to evaluate the effect of different inclusion levels of alkali-treated Pito mash (ATPM) on carcass characteristics and growth parameters. The chickens were grouped into 4 dietary treatments of 60 chickens per grouped, tagged T1, T2, T3 and T4. T1 was the control (non-ATPM). T2, T3, T4 contained 5, 10 and 15 % inclusion level of alkali - treated Pito Mash (ATPM) respectively. Each treatment replicated three times. Six chickens from each treatment were randomly selected and fasted for 12 hours for carcass analysis. The results indicated that chickens fed with the alkali- treated diets  did show significantly (P > 0.05) difference in some carcass parameters evaluated; such as live weight, dressed weight, back weight, thigh weight, liver and wing weight, however, significant (P<0.05) variation in other parameters such as dressing percentage, breast weight, leg weight, neck weight, head weight and gizzard weight were observed. Weekly weight gain, live weight and dressed weight were also not significantly (P>0.05) influenced by the dietary treatments but appeared to vary numerically across the treatments. Alkali -treated pito mash up to 15% inclusion level in the diets of broiler chickens (Starter and Finisher) could be applied for production without any adverse effects on the growth performance and carcass quality.

Keywords: Alkali- pito mash, Carcass qualities, dressing percentage and Growth parameters