A comparison of six treatments for controlling mortality of keets in the wet season of the Northern Region of Ghana

Abstract A study was conducted to assess ways of controlling guinea keet mortality in the wet season in the Northern Region of Ghana. Seven hundred and twenty day-old local guinea keets were randomly assigned to six treatments namely, antibiotics & standard diet (AS), dewormer and standard diet (DS), antibiotics, dewormer and standard diet (ADS), antibiotics and by-product diet (ABp), dewormer and by-product diet (DBp) and antibiotics, dewormer and by-product diet (ADBp), and monitored for up to 8 weeks. Statistical Analytical System 9.3 was used to analyse the data as a general linear model. Mean keet mortality was 12.6 per cent. ABp recorded the lowest mortalities (6.6%) and ADBp recorded the highest mortalities (15.7%). However, the differences were not statistically significant. Average feed intake per keet for the 8 weeks was 1.91 kg, and the corresponding mean growth rate was 7.4 g day-1. An average profit of 11 US cents was realised on each keet sold with treatment AS recording the highest profit of 21 US cents per keet sold, and ADS recording the lowest profit of -0.08 US cents per keet sold. Treatments AS and ABp were the most preferred for brooding in the wet season because they gave the highest benefits.