ABSTRACT

A 84-day feeding trial involving one hundred and five (105) day old indigenous turkey poults was conducted to evaluate the performance of turkeys fed varying dietary levels of palm kernel meal (PKM) at starter and grower phases. Four-week old poults were selected, weighed and assigned to five treatment groups of twenty-one (21) poults per treatment in a Completely Randomized Design. Each treatment was replicated three times with seven birds per replicate. Five(5) diets containing varying levels of palm kernel meal at 0%, 7.5%, 15.0%,  22.5% and 30%  designated as  diets T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5  were formulated for both starter (5-9 weeks) and grower (9-16 weeks) turkeys, respectively. Feed and water were given ad libitum. In experiment 1 (starter phase), the birds fed diet T4 had significantly (P<0.05) higher final body weight among treatment groups. The average daily feed intake of birds fed T5 were significantly (P<0.05) higher than the other treatment groups. The average daily weight gain (ADWG) of poults fed diet T3 and T4 were similar (P>0.05) and significantly (P<0.05) higher than the ADWG of birds fed the other treatment diets. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) values were significantly higher (P<0.05) in birds fed diet T5 than the birds fed diets T1, T2, T3 and T4. On economic characteristics of turkey starter, feed cost per bird in T5 was similar (P>0.05) to T4 but significantly (P<0.05) higher than diets T1, T2, and T3. Birds fed T5 (N532.94) had significantly higher (P<0.05) cost per kg weight gain than birds fed diets T3 (N468.42) and T4 (N460.65).The revenue and the gross margin were significantly (P<0.05) higher in turkey starter  fed diet T4. In experiment 2 (grower phase), the final body weight of turkey grower were significantly (P<0.05) higher in birds fed diets T3 than birds fed diet T5. The average daily feed intake (ADFI) of birds fed diet T5 was significantly (P<0.05) higher than other treatments groups. The FCR of birds fed diets T5 was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those fed diets T4, T2, T1 and T3 respectively. Cut parts values did not differ significantly (P>0.05) among treatments except for the breast and wings. All the blood profile parameters measured were within the normal range for healthy turkeys except total protein. Sensory evaluation of turkey meat showed non-significant differences (P>0.05) among treatment groups. On economics of production of turkey grower, feed cost per bird were significantly (P<0.05) higher in T1 and T2 than other treatment diets. Birds fed diets T3 and T4 had non-significantly lower cost per kg weight gain than those fed the other diets. The highest revenue and gross margin were generated from turkeys fed diets T4 and T3. The result of this study suggests that palm kernel meal could be incorporated at 22.5% and a range of 15.0-22.5% in turkey starter and growers diet respectively, without affecting their growth performance, blood profile, economic, carcass characteristics and sensory attributes of turkey meat.