EFFECTS OF VARYING DIETARY ENERGY LEVELS ON PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE, CARCASS AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF BANABA CHICKENS RAISED IN CONFINEMENT

Abstract

Diets with different levels of energy were fed to Banaba chickens (n=180) for 49 days to evaluate its growth performance, carcass and sensory characteristics. Diets were formulated to contain similar levels of crude protein and other nutrients with varying energy levels of 2900, 3000, 3100, and 3200 ME kcal/kg. Following a Completely Randomized Design, chickens were divided into 4 groups with 5 replications having 9 animals each. Carcass and sensory performance were done at 72 days of age. Banaba chickens fed diets with 2900 ME kcal/kg had the highest weight gain (P=0.0406), lowest energy intake (P=0.0001) among all treatments, and better feed conversion (P=0.0258) and caloric conversion (P=0.0072) compared to those fed diets with 3000 kcal ME/kg. Average daily feed consumption, carcass and sensory performance were not influenced by energy level.