Addition of copra meal to commercial feed for broiler chicken production.

Abstract

Commercial hybrid broiler chickens were fed from three weeks to 53 days of age on diets in which various levels of copra meal were added to commercial finisher feed. The findings confirm that a finisher feed of commercial broiler pellets with 20-60 percent added copra meal can make a satisfactory low density feed for broiler chickens in the finishing stages. A diet of 60 percent copra meal with 40 percent broiler finisher can be fed to broilers for an additional week for them to reach a marketable weight of two kilograms. There is an economic advantage in favor of the lower intensity system as long as the ratio of the actual prices of the copra meal and commercial feed is above the calculated threshold ratio.