The effect of different energy-protein ratio in diets on feed digestibility and performance of native chickens in the starter phase

Abstract The present study was conducted to determine the effects of different energy-protein ratio in diets on feed digestibility and performance of native chickens in the starter phase. A total of 128, 1-d-old healthy male native chickens were randomly divided into four treatment diet groups: A) diets containing metabolic energy (ME) 3100 kcal/kg with crude protein (CP) 22%; B): diet containing 3000 kcal/kg ME with CP 20%; C): diets containing ME 2900 kcal/kg with 18% CP (C); and D): diet containing ME 2800 kcal/kg with 16% CP, respectively. There were four replications, resulting in 16 pens, which contained 8 birds each. The results showed that there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in feed consumption and feed digestibility between group treatments. Final body weight and live weight gains, the highest (P<0.05) obtained in birds Group A and B, conversely, the lowest was found in Group C and D. FCR between treatments showed significant differences (P<0.05). The highest feed efficiency was found in Groups A and B, on the contrary, the lowest was found in Groups C and D. It can be concluded the decrease of metabolic energy content and protein content in the ration resulted in higher performance of native chickens, but did not affect feed digestibility. Keywords: Metabolizable energy, protein, feed efficiency, chickens