Inclusion of niger and sesame cake replacing soybean meal in coarse cereals based starter chicken ration

An experiment was conducted to study the performance of starter chickens using 150, day-old chicks of identical body weight with five dietary treatments having three replicates of 10 chicks each. Out of five dietary treatments, treatment 1 and 2 were positive and negative controls, containing maize- soybean meal diet with and without fishmeal (T₁ and T₂). In rest of the three treatments, soybean meal was replaced by equal proportion of niger and sesame cake at 50%, 60% and 70% level (T₃, T₄ and T₅). In all these three diets, maize was replaced completely (100%) using equal proportion of sorghum and ragi. All these diets were iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric. Studies revealed that use of oilseed meals (sesame and niger cake) in equal proportion replacing soybean meal at 50%, 60% and 70% level had no significant effect on the body weight gain of chickens. However, there was significant reduction in their feed intake. It improved the feed utilization and performance index in these chickens. The cost of feeding chickens assigned sesame meal and niger meal instead of soybean meal at 70% level was significantly lower followed by those receiving 60% or 50% of these meals instead of soybean meal in the diet.