The use of dried bakery products in a free-choice feeding method for small-scale broiler production.

Waste material from bakeries is an unconventional energy feed source which is available in sufficient quantities for use in small-scale broiler production in South Africa. Small-scale broiler producers do not have access to the computer programs required to balance home-mixed rations. This investigation confirms that the use of dried bakery products (DBP) in a 2-stage, free-choice method can be used to compensate for this lack. A total of 570 day-old male broiler chickens was assigned to 3 feeding treatments: the control group was fed a 2-stage feeding programme using standard commercial starter and grower rations. The 2nd group received a commercial starter ration up to Day 7 and was thereafter given a choice of a commercial starter ration with normal salt content (0.35%) and DBP. The 3rd group was fed a commercial starter ration up to Day 7, then offered a choice of commercial starter ration with a lower salt content (0.1%) and DBP. The low salt alternative was used to test whether the higher salt percentage in DBP influenced the choice of feed by the birds. It was found that the control group consumed significantly more feed (P < 0.05) and was significantly heavier (P < 0.05) than the experimental groups. However, there was no significant difference between the 2 experimental groups, which indicated that salt content did not play a role in the choice of ration. Feed consumption by both experimental groups was about one-third less than the control group, but the profit margin, as calculated using gross margin analysis, was approximately 15 % higher. It was therefore concluded that dried bakery products can be profitably incorporated as an energy feed source, using the free-choice feeding method, in small-scale broiler enterprises.