Utilization of Noodle Waste as Replacement for Maize in the Diet of Broiler Starter Chickens

Noodle waste (NW) is an alternative source of energy and less expensive compared to maize which is one of the main conventional source of energy in the diet of poultry. This study was designed to determine the effect of replacing maize fraction of the diet with NW on growth characteristics, cost benefits and blood indices of broiler starter chicken. One hundred and twenty day old Anak, 2000 broilers chicks of mean weight of 40.78±1.7g were randomly selected and allotted to 4 dietary treatments. Each treatment was replicated thrice with ten chicks per replicate in a completely randomized design. Four diets were formulated to contain 0% (T1), 50% (T 2), 75% (T 3), 100% (T 4) of NW as replacement for maize fraction of the entire diet. Parameters taken were weight gain, feed intake. Feed conversion ratio, total feed cost, and cost per weight gain were calculated. The feeding lasted for 28 days. Blood indices such as packed cell volume (PCV), Red blood cell count (RBC)and White blood cell(WBC) and total protein etc. were measured or calculated. Significant differences (P=.05) were observed in the mean total feed intake of the chicks fed diet containing varied levels of NW. There were significant differences in the mean total weight gain of chicks fed diet containing 100% NW and the control diet (P=.05),