The economic benefit of using kaolin (clay) as a feed additive in
broiler diets was evaluated in an 8 week feeding trial. The experiment
was carried out at the poultry section of Rivers State University of
Science and Technology Teaching and Research farm, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo,
Port Harcourt- Rivers State, South-south of Nigeria. A total of 120
Hubbard strain of broiler chicks weighing an average of 60g were
allocated to four dietary treatments with 10 birds each being a
replicate and 3 replicates comprising a treatment in a Completely
Randomized Design (CRD).. Four diets were used comprising 0g kaolin/kg
feed, 10g kaolin/kg, 20g kaolin/kg and 30g kaolin/kg representing
treatments A, B, C and D respectively. The proprietary feed used in
this study at both the starter and finisher phases was of top feed with
protein contents of 22% for starter and 18% for finishers. They
contained 2800 ME/Kcal/kg and 2900 ME/Kcal/kg respectively. Weekly
weight gain and daily feed intake were recorded while the cost of feed
was also determined. The result showed that significant differences
(P<0.05) existed in feed intake and feed conversion ratio. With
respect to feed intake, the control (0g kaolin/kg) recorded the highest
while all the treated groups had the least and comparable intakes. Also
feed conversion ratio was best in the 10g Kaolin/kg and 30g/kaolin/kg.
The result showed no significant (P>0.05) differences in the cost/kg
feed. The result also showed that the inclusion of kaolin in the diets
reduced the cost of total feed consumed in all the treated groups when
compared to the control. The cost for feeding in the control group
accounted for N459.00 which is about 49.95% of the total cost of
production in relation to feed consumed. Those on the treated groups
accounted for N 423.0 (47.91%), N 441.20 (48.96%) and N 432.30 (48.45%)
respectively for treatments B, C and D. The result indicated that there
was no mortality in all the groups suggesting the safety of using
kaolin in broiler chicken diets. The results of this experiment clearly
demonstrate the economic benefits of the inclusion of kaolin (clay) in
broiler chicken diets. Poultry farmers are therefore advised to take
advantage of the economic gain obtained by the complimentary responses
of chicken fed kaolin diets