Abstract
Elangovan, A.V., Mandal, A.B., Tyagi, Pramod K, Tyagi, Praveen K., Toppo, S. and Johri, T.S. 2004. Utilization of sorghum and finger millet with or without feed enzyme in broiler chickens. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 26: 33–38.
A 4x2 factorial experiment of seven weeks duration was conducted on day-old broiler chicks (n=240) to study the efficacy of commercial feed enzyme preparation added @ 50g/quintal in four experimental diets containing either maize, sorghum, finger millet as sole cereal source or a combination of maize, sorghum, finger millet and pearl millet in equal proportions on performance, nutrient utilization, carcass traits and feed cost of production. The body weight gain and feed efficiency were significantly lower (P<0.01) in finger millet based diet, which were improved (P<0.01) upon enzyme addition. However, addition of enzyme in diets based on other cereals did not improve the performance of broilers. The enzyme addition significantly (P<0.05) improved the dry matter and gross energy metabolizability with higher nitrogen retention from diet containing finger millet. The carcass traits remained unaltered (P>0.05) by various dietary treatments. Feed cost of broiler production was higher (P<0.05) in finger millet based diet. It is concluded that diet containing finger millet, a poor quality grain, can be improved by adding commercial feed enzyme preparation.