Effect Of Feeding Germinated Millet On Performance And Serum Total Lipids Of Broiler Chicks

Abstract

Pearl millet Kordofani cultivar was used in this experiment to determine some compositional changes and nutritive value of malted millet grains. Millet was steeped in water for (24hrs) and sprouted for (0, 24 and 48hrs) respectively. Sprouted samples were dried and ground and an experiment was then conducted to investigate the effect of sprouting pearl millet Kordofani cultivar on proximate analysis, protein fractionations, broiler chicks performance and lipid level in liver and blood. Proximate analysis results revealed that dry matter, crude protein, crude fiber, ether extract and ash content percentages increased as the sprouting time increased. Results showed an increase in albumin, globulin and gluten percentages and a decrease in prolamin. Isocaloric and isonirtogenous diets based on sprouted pearl millet cultivar (24 and 48hrs) were formulated. Diets were fed to 150 commercial broiler chicks (Ross) in an open-sided poultry house equipped with pen raised above the floor for duration of six weeks. Each diet was fed to 50 birds (10 birds/replicates), and each treatment had five replicates. Feeding sprouted millet diet for 24hrs reduced feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio (F.C.R.) and lipid content in liver and blood where as feeding sprouted millet for 48hrs improved the some parameters. It can be inferred from these results that sprouting caused some compositional changes of beneficial effects at certain levels, and sprouting for 48hrs improve broiler performance