Response of starter broilers to diets containing graded levels of rice bran with or without palm oil

Abstract

One hundred and forty four(144) day old broiler chicks of hubbard breed from a commercial hatchery were used to investigate the response of broiler chick to 0, 10 and 20% dietary rice bran with or without palm oil in a 5 week feeding trial. Significant interaction between dietary levels of rice bran and palm oil were observed on feed intake, weight gain and feedgain ratio (P>0.05). Increase in dietary levels of rice bran deduced feed transit time in the GIT (P>0.05) while supplementary palm oil had the opposite effect (P>0.05). There was a tendency for dietary supplementation of palm oil to increase protein or fat retention (P>0.05) but had no significant effect on crude fibre retention (P>0.05) but had no significant effect of crude fibre retention (P>0.05). It was concluded that broiler chicks could tolerate up to 10% dietary levels of rice bran without detrimental effects on performance and nutrients retention. With supplementary 5% palm oil added to such a diet, performance was comparable to that of birds fed a standard diet with money saved in the process