The Effect of Housing Type on Body Parameters, Feed Intake and Feed Conversion Ratio of Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris) Keets and Chemical Composition of Their Meat During Growth and Development in Botswana

摘要

The prersent study were to investigates the effect of housing type i.e., Poultry House (PH), Semi-Poultry House (SPH) and a Fenced Open Natural area (FON) on body parameters, feed intake and feed conversion ratio of guinea fowl keets from 5-42 days of age and chemical composition of their meat at 3 and 5 weeks of age in Botswana. A total of 117 5-day old keets were randomly allocated to 3 housing types, which were replicated 3 times (n =13/replicate). All keets were fed commercial chick starter and grower’s mashes ad libitum for 4 and 2 weeks, respectively. Water was provided all the time. Body weight, body length, shank length and its circumference and feed intake were measured weekly on 5 keets randomly selected per replicate. Feed conversion ratio was calculated. Two keets from each replicate were randomly selected and slaughtered at 3 and 5 weeks of age. Dry matter, crude protein, ash, phosphorus, sodium and potassium were determined for each carcass. Procedure ANOVA in Statistical Analysis System was used to analyse the data. Generally, housing type did not affect (p>0.05) all parameters including chemical composition of meat at the same age. However, all parameters significantly increased from 5-42 days of age, respectively. Keets raised under different housing types can bring the same output hence for better profit it is best to choose FON than both PH and SPH, which increase production costs because of the purchase of building materials required for the latter housing types.