ECONOMICS OF PRODUCTION OF FINISHER BROILER CHICKENS ADMINISTERED Bacillus subtilis (PROBIOTICS) IN DRINKING WATER

Abstract

A 28-day feeding trial study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Bacillus subtilis (probiotics) supplementation on the growth performance of finisher broiler chickens. One hundred and twenty (120), three (3) weeks old mixed sexes, chicks were used in this study. The birds were randomly assigned to four treatment groups, T1, T2, T3, and T4 with Bacillus subtilis supplementation at 0ml/litre, 10ml/litre, 20ml/litre and 30ml/litre in drinking water respectively. The treatment groups were replicated three times with ten (10) birds per replicate in a Complete Randomized Design. The birds were housed in deep litter pens and all necessary routine management practices were observed. The economics of production data was collected for parameters such as feed intake, cost feed per kg, total cost of feed consumed, total weight gain, feed cost/ kg weight gain, revenue and cost of saving percentage. The result showed that, the cost of the feed increased as the level of the probiotics increased. Though, there was improvement in the feed intake, feed gain ratio and total weight gain. There was also increase in revenue and the cost of saving percentage in the Bacillus subtilis supplemented groups compared with the control group, T2 (12.94%), T3(17.79%) and T4 (6.29%).