Feeding turkey poults with starter feed and whole wheat or maize in free choice feeding system: Its effects on their performances


Creative Commons License

Erener G., Ocak N., Garipoğlu A. V., Şahin A. R., Öztürk E.

Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences, vol.19, no.1, pp.86-90, 2006 (SCI-Expanded) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 19 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2006
  • Doi Number: 10.5713/ajas.2006.86
  • Journal Name: Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.86-90
  • Keywords: Choice Feeding, Growth Performance, Turkey Poults, Whole Cereals
  • Ondokuz Mayıs University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effects of free choice feeding of starter feed and whole cereals on the growth of turkey poults. Two hundred-seventy poults (7-d old) were divided into 3 treatment groups each with 3 replications containing 15 males and 15 females. Control poults (C) were fed only on starter feed (280 g CP and 11.7 MJ ME/kg). Treatments for choice-fed turkey poults were offered a choice of a starter feed and wheat (120 g CP and 12.3 MJ ME/kg) for wheat selecting (WS) or maize (83 g CP and 13.9 MJ ME/kg) for maize selecting (MS) group in separate feeders. Final live weight (2,280.7 g for the C vs. 2,374.3 and 2,324.6 g for the WS and MS), daily gain (39.21 g vs. 40.87 and 39.99 g) and total feed intake (95.2 g vs. 103.2 and 97.9 g) in the WS poults were significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of the C group, but feed conversion ratio was not significantly different between the treatments. The proportional intakes of cereals vs. total feed intake were 11% in both the WS and MS group. The amount of protein intake in the C group (280 g CP/kg diet) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than that in WS and MS groups (263 and 259 g CP/kg diet, respectively) whilst the ME intake in the C group (11.7 MJ/kg diet) was significantly (p<0.05) lower than that in MS group (11.9 MJ/kg diet). Our results showed that turkey poults fed starter feed and whole wheat in a free choice feeding system have a higher efficiency in terms of daily gain, final live weight, and an economic advantage may be obtained from free choice feeding due to a reduced protein intake and feed cost.