EFFECT OF FEEDING PROGRAMS ON SOME PRODUCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER

This experiment was conducted on 60 unsexed one day old Ross broiler chicks to study the effect of four different feeding programs on productive characteristics during 0-8 weeks . The birds were raised in individual cages and distributed in to 4 treatments with 15 birds as replicates . Three rations were formulated including starter, grower and finisher ration which included 2800, 2900, and 3047 Kcal/Kg ME and 22 , 20 ,19.19(%) CP respectively. T1 included feeding grower ration from 0 – 8 weeks, T2 and T3 included feeding starter- grower- finisher rations for 3-3-2and 2-4-2 weeks respectively , while T4 included feeding starter and finisher rations for 0-4, 5-8weeks respectively. Statistical analysis showed that T1 had significant increase(P≤ 0.05) in body weight at 2,4,6,8 weeks , weight gain, growth rate, feed consumption, feed , protein and energy conversion ratio, during 0-4 weeks. Differences were not significant during 5-8 weeks in most traits , T3 showed significant decrease comparing to T1 in feed, protein, and energy conversion ratio during 5-8 weeks. Treatments had no significant effect on dressing percentage , percentage of carcass parts and edible giblets , and first treatment had best economic efficiency.