To study the effect of phase feeding (PF) on growth and economic performance of broiler against NRC (1994) feeding standards, a total of 120, day old chicks were reared from 0–8 weeks of age. Chicks were fed as per NRC feeding standards up to 3 weeks of age. Thereafter, chicks were divided into 3 treatments i.e. TN1 (NRC control), TN2 (PF of NRC) and TN3 (PF of NRC) having 40 chicks each. TN1 was fed standard NRC (1994) ration in growing (4–6 week) and finishing (7–8 week) phases having 20 and 18% protein in rations, respectively. In TN2, dietary protein was lowered by 1% each week in growing and finishing phases. While in TN3 treatment, dietary protein was consistently lowered by 1% at weekly interval from 4- to 8 week of age. No significant differences in body weight, feed intake, FCR, carcass breast, wing and leg yield were observed among treatments, however, abdominal fat was significantly more in PF treatments TN and TN than in TN. TN and TN had 4.8% (Rs. 1.51) and 3.8% (Rs. 1.20)
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higher returns over feed cost than TN1. It was concluded that decrease in dietary protein levels against NRC standards above 3 weeks of age reduces the feed cost without sacrificing growth performance.
Broiler feeding, NRC standards, Phase feeding, Protein, Economics
