THE INFLUENCE OF VARYING CALCIUM-PHOSPHORUS RATIOS ON FINISHING AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER FINISHER CHICKENS UNDER A SEMI ARID ENVIRONMENT

An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of various ratios of calcium to phosphorus on growth performance and carcass yield of broiler finisher chickens under a semi arid environment. The experiment used a total of 150 twenty eight days old broiler chicks randomly assigned to five treatment groups of 30 birds each made up of three replicates of ten birds. They were fed five treatment diets that were isocaloric-isonitrogeneous but of varying Ca: P ratios namely; 2:1 (control), 2.5:1, 3:1, 3.5:1 and 4:1 for a period of thirty five days. The highest daily feed consumption of 132.88g was recorded for the 4:1 ratio group while the control group significantly (P 4:1>3.5:1>2.5:1>2:1. Among the carcass indices, drum stick and breast were significantly heaviest in 2.5:1 and 3:1groups respectively. The study concluded that Ca: P ratio of 2:1 was inadequate for broiler finishers while 3:1 was the most favourable for finishing broiler chickens.