Performance and Economic Feasibility of Using Soybean Oil, Palm Oil and Fish Oil in Broiler Diet

Abstract

Six hundred day old unsexed broiler chicks were used in a 35-day trial to compare the effects of soybean oil, palm oil and fish oil supplementation on the performance of broilers in terms of feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion. The chicks were randomly distributed following a completely randomized design in four groups having three replications per treatment. Each treatment had 150 birds with 50 birds per replicate. Four diets were formulated using locally available ingredients as diet without oil, diet containing 3.0% soybean oil, 3.0% palm oil and 3.0% fish oil. Results indicated thatsupplementation of different types of oil did not affect (P>0.05) feed intake of broilers up to 2^nd week except increased (P<0.05) at 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th weeks. Live weight gain of broilers did not differ (P>0.05) among groups up to 3^rd week of age except at 4^th week. The highest live weight gain at 4^th week was found in 3.0% fish oil supplemented group. The palm oil group showed the least feed conversion value that differed only from fish oil group. Feed cost per broiler receiving fish oil was higher than that of without oil, palm oil and soybean oil groups. Total cost per broiler also differed (P<0.01) among the groups. Net profit expressed in US$ per kg live weight of broilers did not differ (P>0.05) between treatments. Maximum net profit was obtained from birds fed diet containing palm oil and minimum from broilers fed diet containing soybean oil. It was concluded that supplementation of fish oil at 3.0% level gave slightly higher live weight gain and feed conversion than those of the same level of soybean and palm oil. However, net profit as well as price per kg live broiler was comparatively higher in palm oil supplementation than in soybean oil and fish oil.