Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences

Greener Journal of  Agricultural Sciences Vol. 2 (6), pp. 237-245, October 2012

 ISSN: 2276-7770 

Research Paper

Manuscript Number: 08211248

 

The Effects of Dietary Kaolin (Clay) as Feed Additive on the Growth Performance of Broiler Chickens

                           

*O.J. Owen¹, M.B. Nodu², U.A. Dike¹ and H.M. Ideozu¹

 

¹Department of Animal Science, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, P.M.B. 5080, 

Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

²Department of Fisheries/Livestock Production Technology, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, PMB 071, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

 

*Corresponding Author’s Email: congomfx @ yahoo.com

Abstract: 

Investigation was carried out to elucidate the effects of dietary kaolin (clay) as feed additive on the growth parameters of broiler chickens. One hundred and twenty (120) day-old Hubbard broiler chickens with mean initial weight of 60g were used in a completely Randomized design (CRD) for 56days. The birds were randomly assigned to 4 treatments consisting of 30 birds/treatment and 10 birds/replicate. The 4 Treatments were: basal diet only (control), basal diet + 10g kaolin/kg, basal diet + 20g kaolin/kg and basal diet + 30g/kg kaolin. Results obtained revealed that incorporating kaolin into broiler diets significantly (p<0.05) improved feed intake and feed efficiency. It was concluded that dietary kaolin in the diet of broiler birds had beneficial effects on the growth performance.
 
Keywords: Broiler chickens, kaolin, feed intake, feed efficiency, basal diet.

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