Conversion of energy and protein rich food waste as an alternative feed ingredient in broiler feed formulation

A series of experiments were performed to find out the impact of food waste on growth attributes and performance of broilers in a tropical climate. Two hundred and fifty-one-day-old broiler chicks were randomly separated into 5 groups, where each group comprised 50 animals. The broilers were fed with five different dietary treatments. Treatment 1 (T1), the diet consisted of food waste ingredients such as sprat heads, fish offal (protein), scraped coconut, and swill cooked rice as energy supplements; dietary treatment II (T2) diet was formulated with protein rich food waste; treatment III (T3) diet formulated with energy-rich food waste; treatment IV (T4) without any food waste materials, but a diet formulated with commercially available feed ingredients; and treatment V (T5), a 100% commercially-available broiler diet. Total feed intake per week and total weight gain were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the commercial diet (T5) contrary to the formulated diets. The highest feed conversion ratio (FCR) was recorded in T3. The average dressing percentage was not significantly different (p > 0.05) in T1, T3, and T5. Average DM % in litter and DM % in feces were higher in T5, but average nitrogen % in droppings were lower in T4 and T5 compared to other diets. The study shows the potential application of food waste as an alternative feed in the broiler industry and its abundance and easy collection makes it a promising feeding regime in urban and suburban areas.