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Low nutritive quality of own-mixed chicken rations in Kampala City, Uganda

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Abstract

Chicken production is popular in Kampala City, Uganda. Indeed about 70 % of all poultry products consumed in Kampala are produced locally. However, the high cost of feed is a major limiting factor. As a consequence, chicken farmers are formulating and mixing their own feeds. However, these own-mixed feeds may not meet recommended nutrient levels. We therefore studied five classes of own-mixed chicken feeds: broiler starter, broiler finisher, chick mash, grower mash, and layer mash. Samples of the chicken feeds were collected from farmers in and around Kampala City. We analyzed crude protein, ether extract, crude fiber, total starch, ash, calcium, phosphorus, and gross energy contents of the feeds. The apparent metabolizable energy content was calculated. We compared data with dietary requirements recommended for chickens in the tropics. Results show that own-mixed rations contained 21.9–36.3 % less protein than minimum recommendations. Broiler rations contained 16.2–20 % less metabolizable energy than minimum recommendations, and their crude fiber content was 37.5–50 % higher than the maximum recommendation. Layer mash contained 66.7 % less calcium and 17.5 % less metabolizable energy than minimum recommendations. All the five classes of own-mixed chicken rations were very high in ash content, ranging from 17.0 to 21.2 %. We conclude that own-mixed chicken rations do not conform to the dietary recommendations. There is therefore a need to give chicken farmers training on feed formulation and mixing.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Government of Sweden (through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) for funding the study. We also acknowledge the farmers in Kampala City for their participation.

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Correspondence to Constantine Katongole.

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Kasule, L., Katongole, C., Nambi-Kasozi, J. et al. Low nutritive quality of own-mixed chicken rations in Kampala City, Uganda. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 34, 921–926 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-013-0205-2

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