Feed utilization and growth performance of cockerels fed with soldier ants (<i>Dorylus</i> spp Fabricius) as protein source

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of soldier ant as dietary supplements on the growth performance of cockerels. Two hundred cockerels of Nera white strain (aged 6 weeks) were randomly assigned into 5 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment was replicated 5 times with 8 cockerels per replicate. The cockerels were fed with diets containing 0% (T1, control), 1.49% (T2), 7.45% (T3), 14.89% (T4) and 29.78% (T5) inclusion of soldier ants meal at corresponding values of 0%, 5%, 25%, 50% and 100% dietary substitution of fishmeal respectively. The experimental diets and clean drinking water were supplied to the cockerels ad libitum for a period of four weeks. Weight measurements were taking weekly and the daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, specific growth rate and survival rate were calculated. All levels of dietary supplements elicited growth performances with 100% survival rate among the treatments. Cockerels on T2 had a significant (p<0.05) higher weight gain (394.37±13.41) followed by those on T1 (379.25±13.19) and T3 (372.84±7.59) but significant (p<0.05) reduction in mean weight gain was observed in birds on T5 (220.77±24.32). Cockerels fed with T2 diet recorded the highest mean weight at the fourth week of the experiment. Least FCR was observed in cockerels on T2 (3.26±0.15) while those on T5 (7.70±0.96) recorded significant increase (p<0.05) in FCR. Cockerels on T5 recorded significant decrease (p<0.05) in SGR compared to other treatments. Soldier ant of 7.45% corresponded to 25% substitution of fishmeal inclusion level brought the better growth performance in cockerels.

Keywords: soldier ant meal, Nera white strain cockerel, growth performance, dietary supplements