Malted sorghum as a maize substitute in broiler diets: Effect on feed utilization, growth performance, and blood parameters

Abstract Sorghum is amongst the most drought-tolerant cereals in the driest rain-fed regions of the arid and semi-arid tropics and hence its suitability in circumventing food and feed insecurity. However, the presence of phytochemicals may limit its utilization in sustainable poultry production which require some form of treatment before use. Thus, this study was conducted to explore malting as a processing method and its effect on growth performance and haemo-biochemical parameters of broiler chickens. Three isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated by totally replacing maize with either malted Mr Buster (MBBD) or Segaolane (MSBD) and Control. One hundred and fifty one-week old Ross 308 broiler (R308BC) were evenly distributed into 15 replicate pens (10 birds/pen) to which experimental diets were randomly allocated and offered in three phase feeding. Birds fed MSBD were eating more than those fed other diets. The birds on Control gained more weight than those fed malted sorghum based (MSOBD). Poor feed conversion ratio (FCR) was observed on MBBD birds in week 3, 4, 5 and 6.The PER was lowest on MSOBD birds in week 2 and 6 but in week 5 the opposite is the truth. Protein intake (PI) of birds on MSOBD was highest in all weeks. Haematological and serum parameters fell within reported normal range of healthy chicken. Overall, the results from the study suggest that maize grains can be replaced with malted sorghum grains, especially Segaolane in poultry diets without any adverse effects on the bird’s growth’s performance and health status.