A new approach the selection of appropriate feed for local chickens

ABSTRACT: The rearing of local chickens by smallholder farmers in developing countries is based on scavenging and providing some extra feed. Available low cost feeds that farmers can use to supplement their chickens could be by-products and surplus products that can provide energy or protein. In this research data from a series of experiments that were conducted at a farm was collected. Experiment consisted of two related cafeteria trials which were conducted to determine the feed preferences of local chickens when fed different feeds separately. The first trial was conducted for 4 weeks with 40 chickens allocated to 4 pens with 10 birds per pen. They were given free access to three types of chopped green forage (taro leaf, duckweed and water spinach) and broken rice as source of energy. The daily dry matter (DM) intake of duckweed (3.9 g) was higher than that of water spinach (2.1 g), while the intake of taro leaf was relatively low (0.02 g). The crude protein (CP) intakes were 1.1 g, 0.5 g and 0.02 g for duckweed, water spinach and taro leaf, respectively. The second trial was conducted with the same duration and the same number of birds per pen. They were given free access to 3 types of fresh chopped carbohydrate feed (cassava root, sweet potato tuber and banana fruit) and duckweed as the only source of protein The daily DM and CP intakes of sweet potato and cassava root were 16 g and 0.5 g for DM and CP, respectively, while the banana fruit intake was low. According to results, it is concluded that among the green forages, duckweed and water spinach were preferred, and among the carbohydrate feeds cassava roots and sweet potato tuber were preferred by local chickens.