Utilization of maggot-meal in cockerel diets

Abstract

The effects of feeding cockerel chicks with maggot-meal (MAM) as replacement for meat-meal (MM) (80%) at 0, 50 and 100% replacement levels with or without methionine (0.20%) supplementation were investigated over 8 weeks period. Day-old Harco cockerel (300) were randomly allotted to 5 dietary treatments of 3 replicates of 20 birds each. Increased dietary inclusion of MAM and methionine supplementation resulted in marked variation (P<0.05) in feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency. Values (P<0.05) of per cent nitrogen, dressing percentage and abdominal fat were obtained with birds fed diet containing 100% MAM plus methoinine supplementation (0.20%). Meat/bone ratio showed slight variations among treatments. It was concluded that MAM can completely replace MM (8%) in diets for cockerel chicks without any adverse effect on performance and nutrient utilization. Supplementation with methionine (0.20%) enhanced nutrient utilization and performance significantly (P<0.05).