Effect of Sorghum -Barley Brewer’s Spent Grain as a Feed Ingredient on Broiler Performance and Carcass Characteristics

The objective of the study was to determine if the inclusion of Sorghum-Barley Brewer’s Spent Grain (SBBSG) in broiler diets will affect growth performance and carcass characteristics. A total of 380 Ross broiler chicks were brooded on a common diet without SBBSG for 28 days after which they were randomly assigned to five experimental diets, T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 representing 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16% SBBSG inclusion respectively in a completely randomized design. There were 4 replicates per treatment and each replicate had 19 birds. The test period was 28 days and consisted of a grower phase (14 days) and a finisher phase (14 days). Water and feed were provided ad libitum. Production parameters measured included average daily gain, feed intake and feed conversion efficiency. At the end of the trial 3 birds from each replicate were sacrificed and used for carcass analysis. Parameters measured included dressing percentage, intestinal weight, liver and gizzard weight and abdominal fat. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) among all diets for any of the production parameters measured. Similarly, except for abdominal fat where birds on T5 had significantly higher (P < 0.05) values (37.99g) compared with T1, T2, T3 and T4 (18.47, 17.41, 21.07 and 29.4g) respectively, all other carcass parameters measured were similar (P > 0.05). There was no significant reduction in cost of feed per unit gain with increasing levels of SBBSG. However, the combined effect of an increasing trend in final body weight, similar feed intake and FCE could sum up to make SBBSG an attractive alternative, cost-wise to more conventional feed ingredients. The present study shows that beyond the brooding stage, SBBSG can be included in broiler diets up to 16% without adverse effects on performance, and up to 12% without a significant increase in abdominal fat.Keywords: Sorghum-Barley Brewer’s Spent Grain (SBBSG), Broilers, Weight gain, Feed Conversion efficiency, Carcass characteristics