Abstract

An experiment was conducted to compare the dietary effect of fishmeal, acetic acid and enzyme complex on carcass, internal organs and economics of broiler chickens. A total of 150 Anak broiler chickens were used and grouped into five dietary treatments. Each treatment was replicated three times with ten birds per replicate. The experiment was arranged in completely randomized design (CRD). Treatment one (TI) which was the control was a soya bean meal based diet without fish meal. Treatment two (T2) was a diet with fishmeal and soya bean meal. An enzyme complex containing phytase, xylanase, pectinase, glucanase, and hemicellulase was added to the basal diet at 0.5% to form treatment three (T3). Treatment four (T4) was the control feed plus 0.5% acetic acid, while treatment five (T5) was the basal diet plus 0.5% acetic acid and 0.5% enzyme complex. All the test ingredients were added at both starter and finisher diets. Birds were fed and watered ad libitum for 49 days the experiment lasted (4weeks for starter phase and 3 weeks for finisher phase). There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in dressed percentage, breast weight, thigh and drumstick. Acetic acid significantly increased (P< 0.05) abdominal fat, gizzard weight and bile volume compared to fishmeal and enzyme. Revenue and gross margin were higher in fishmeal treated group followed by enzyme. Economically, fishmeal followed by enzyme proved to be the best, but in terms of dressed percentage, the enzyme complex could be used in fishmeal-free-diet.

Keywords:Acetic acid; Broiler chickens; Economics; Enzyme complex; Fish meal; Meat yield