Study of the Impact of Sweet Potato (Ipomea batatas) Meal as a Source of Energy in the Diets of Broilers at Starter and Finisher Stages of Growth in Zamfara State, Nigeria

The experiment was conducted to determine the impact of feeding sweet potato meal to broilers. A total of two hundred and fifty (250) day old broilers of Abore acres strain were used for the trial. The birds were randomly divided in to 25 groups of 10 chicks each. Five groups were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments as replicates. The treatments consisted of diet 1 (100% maize/ 0% sweet potato), diet 2 (75% maize/ 25% sweet potato), diet 3 (50% maize/ 50% sweet potato), diet 4 (25% maize/ 75% sweet potato) and diet 5 (0% maize/ 100% sweet potato). Data on feed intake, water intake, mortality, feed conversion ratio and body weight gain were recorded. The proximate analysis of the feed samples and sweet potato meal were carried out. The data collected at both starter and finisher were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using SAS statistical package. The results recorded at both starter and finisher stages indicated that, there was significant difference (P<0.05) on body weight gain and feed conversion ratio while there was no significant difference (P>0.05) on feed intake, water intake and mortality.. It could be concluded from the results of the study that, control diet and 50% level of inclusion are better for broiler starters and finishers respectively.