Effects of feeding time of starter to finisher diet on growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of changing time of starter and finisher diets on growth performance, feed conversion efficiency (FCE) and carcass characteristics of broilers in a small-scale production system. A total of 100 unsexed day-old chicks of commercial strain (Cobb) were housed in a deep litter rearing system. 40, 30 & 30 birds chicks were randomly assigned to T1, T2 & T3. Treatments consisted of a (T1), the birds were given starter (0 to 10 days) and finisher (11 to 35 days); T2, the birds were given starter (1 to 15 days) and finisher (16 to 35 days); and T3, birds were given starter (1 to 20days) and finisher (21 to 35 days). Body weight (BW) and feed intake (FI) were recorded weekly. The BW, FI and the FCE were computed for each week. At week 5, the broilers on T2 were heavier (P<0.05) than T1 and T3 birds. Treatment effects (P<0.05) were observed on FI and BW at various stages of growth as well as on FCE at some stage of growth. T2 birds showed higher dressing % (P<0.05) as compared to T1 & T3 birds. It was concluded that changing dietary starter phases promised optimum production in birds fed starter diets, 0 to 15 days with feed cost per kilogram being better compared to birds fed starter diets, 0 to 10 days and starter diets, 0 to 20 days. Based on the findings of the present study, it can be suggested that providing 15 days of starter have a positive impact on final bird performance.