Abstract:
The study was carried out to determine the effect of golden kuhol meal and soybean meal rations on the growth performance of Paraoakan x Rhode Island Red native chickens given rations with golden kuhol meal or soybean meal. Specifically, it was conducted to determine the gain in weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, morbidity, mortality, and the feed cost to produce a unit gain in weight. This was conducted at the BSU Poultry Project, Balili, La Trinidad Benguet from February to April 2016. A total of forty 14-days old Paraoakan x Rhode Island Red native chickens was distributed into two treatments following the Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Each treatment had four replicates with 5 birds per replicate making a total of 20 birds per treatment. The treatments were: T1- 45g ground yellow corn, 15g rice bran, 30g chopped sweet potato leaves, 10g soybean meal and T2- 45g ground yellow corn, 15g rice bran, 30g chopped sweet potato leaves, 10g golden kuhol meal. All birds were all housed in cages throughout the study and subjected to the same care and management except for the ration given. Statistical Analysis showed no significant differences between the two treatmentsin terms of initial weight, total and average daily gains (ADG) in weight, and feed conversion ratio. The overall mean initial and final weights were 108.1g at 14 days old and 220.7g at 70 days old, respectively. The overall mean ADG was 2.01g and the overall mean FCR was 10.62. Significant differences were observed in the feed intakes of the birds. The birds given rations with soybean meal had a higher feed intake with a mean of 1260.7g compared to the feed intakes of the birds given rations with golden kuhol meal with a mean of 1105.44g. The feed cost to produce a unit gain weight obtained from the birds given rations with soybean meal registered a higher cost with a mean of Php 301.05 compared to the feed cost obtained from the chicken given rations with golden kuhol meal which was Php 250.34.
