EFFECT OF ACIDIFIER SUPPLEMENTATION TO LOW-PROTEIN DIETS CONTAINING BREWERY RESIDUAL MEAL ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF BROILER CHICKS

With rising costs of conventional protein sources, reducing dietary crude protein through the incorporation of agro-by-products, supported by functional feed additives, offers a practical strategy to enhance nutrient utilization and production efficiency. This study evaluated the effect of acidifier supplementation in low-protein diets containing guinea corn-based brewery residue meal (GBRM) on the growth performance and economic efficiency of broiler starter chickens for a period of 21 days. A total of 160 day-old Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly distributed into four dietary treatments with four replicates of ten birds each in a completely randomized design. T1 consisted of a positive control (PC) diet containing 22% crude protein; T2 is the negative control (NC) diet containing 19% crude protein with GBRM inclusion at 50% replacement for soybean in the PC diet, while T3 and T4 contained the NC diet with 1% and 2% acidifier supplementation, respectively. The analysed GBRM showed that it possessed 95.13% dry matter, 28.94% crude protein, 4.37% ether extract, 14.80% crude fibre, 9.84% ash, and 42.05% nitrogen-free extract. Results indicated that all growth and cost indices evaluated were affected significantly (P<0.05) except feed intake. Broilers in the PC diet group displayed higher (P<0.05) mean values for BWG (470 g) and lower FCR (2.35), followed by those in the NC + acidifier groups, than birds fed the NC diet (350 g BWG, 3.50 FCR). Birds fed 1% and 2% acidifier-supplemented NC diets had higher (P<0.05) PER of 2.08 and 2.14, respectively, than those in groups fed PC (1.93) and NC (1.49) diets. Total feed cost/bird (N992.30) and cost/kg gain (N2050.01) were lower (P<0.05) in the group fed a 2% acidified-NC diet than those fed PC and NC diet groups. An increased (P<0.05) profit margin and benefit cost ratio were recorded in groups fed acidified-NC diets compared to those fed PC and NC diets, with lower mean values. Therefore, it is concluded that feeding a low-protein diet with GBRM inclusion at 50% replacement for soybean could improve the growth and economic indices of starter broilers with acidifier supplementation.