ABSTRACT

 An experiment was conducted to determine the performance of turkey poults fed different sources of calcium and phosphorus in the diet. Six treatment diets were formulated in which bone meal, oyster shell, Di-calcium phosphate and their combinations were included in the diets at 3.0% each. Day old Turkey poults were used for the experiment. Seventy two turkey poults used were randomly allocated to the treatment diets constituting four birds per replicate and twelve per treatments in a completely randomized design treatment. The birds were brooded for the first three weeks while necessary vaccination and medication were applied. The birds were fed and water supplied ad libitum during the study that lasted eight weeks. The final weight of birds fed diet 4 (970g/bird) was significantly higher (p< 0.05) than those fed diets 1, 2 and 3 (790, 830 and 850g/bird) but was not significantly different (P> 0.05) from birds fed diets 5 and 6 (900 and 910g/bird). The daily weight gain of birds fed diets 4 (21.43g/bird) was significantly higher (p< 0.05) than that of birds 1 and 6 (17.43 and 17.43g/bird) but was not significantly different (p> 0.05) from that of diets 2, 3 and 5 (18.0, 18.57 and 20.0g/bird). The breast cut-part ofturkeys fed diets 1,2,3 and 4 (22.39, 25.25, 24.20 and 26.99 percent/bird) were significantly higher (P< 0.05) than that of diet 5 and 6 (23.889 and 23.26). The back cut-part of turkeys fed diet 1 was significantly greater (P< 0.05) than others. The kidney of turkeys fed diet 2 and 3 (1.50 and 1.00%) were not significantly different (P> 0.05) but that of diet 2 was differently higher than others. The heart of birds fed diet 3 (1.25%) was significantly higher (P< 0.05) than others. Significant differences existed in all the nutrients ofthe meat ofturkeys fed the treatment diets. However, the protein content ofthat turkeys fed diet 1 (57.58%) is significantly higher (P< 0.05) than others. Turkeys fed diet 4 (bone meal + oyster meal) performed better than others in terms of growth parameters and cut-parts where as its protein content is comparable to that of diets 3,5 and 6. It could be recommended that turkey farmers should use combination of bone meal and oyster shell in the diet for better performance.