Economic value of date pits replaced with maize in broiler chicken diet

Abstract

Study was conducted to evaluate the economic value of broiler chicken diets containing Date Pits (DP) replaced by maize. About 180 days old commercial broiler chickens randomly were assigned to four experimental diets; treatments 1-4 included dietary containing 0, 10, 20 and 30% of date pits, respectively. All diets were isonitrogenous and isocaloric and formulated according to Nutrient Requirements of poultry (NRC). The results showed that in compared with control group cost (kg) of feed decreased with increasing of date pits in diets. At whole of starter and grower periods, there were no significant differences (p>0.05) in feed intake. Feed conversion ratio of diets containing 20 and 30% of date pits was significantly more than control diet (respectively, 2.44 and 2.53 vs. 1.91) (p<0.05) but there was no significant difference with diet containing 10% date pits (p>0.05). As cost (kg) of meat production there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between diets, although the cost of meat production was higher in diets containing of date pits (p>0.05). Therefore, date pits reduce the cost of diets but not meat. © Medwell Journals, 2010.