Feed value of fermented spent sorghum grains for broiler chickens

In view of rising cost of conventional broiler chicken feeds in Nigeria, the value of fermented spent sorghum grains (FSSG) as alternative feed for broiler chickens was evaluated. Sterilized, spent sorghum grains were fermented for 21 days at 25 ± 2oC using a consortium of Aspergillus niger, Chaetomium globosum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Five test diets were formulated by supplementing commercial chicken broiler feed (CBD) with the FSSG at 0, 5, 10, 15, and 100% levels. Proximate contents of the diets were determined. A 28-day Feeding experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design in which 40 day-old broiler chicks were assigned to the five dietary treatments. Eight birds were allocated to each treatment with two replicates of 4 birds each. Parameters monitored included feed intake, weight gain, feed efficiency ratio (FER) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). Higher amounts of FSSG in the diets resulted in significantly higher (P<.05) crude protein and crude fibre contents and lower NFE content and feed intake.  The highest average weight gain of 21.61g/bird/day was recorded for the 5% FSSG diet.  This diet also brought about the highest FER of 0.58. The PER (2.51) of the 5% FSSG diet was insignificantly lower (P >.05) than the value (2.60) recorded for CBD. The findings showed that fermented spent sorghum grains, when used solely, cannot serve as alternative feed for broiler chickens. However, conventional chicken feed could be supplemented with fermented spent sorghum grains at 5% level without negative effects on broiler performance.