Research Article

Effect of Substituting Maize Based Stock-feed Diets with Sorghum on the Performance of Quails

Lloyd Mbulwe
Zambia Agriculture Research Institute, Zambia
* Corresponding author
Mukachikwikwi Hamakoko
Natural Resources Development College, Zambia
George Mhango
Natural Resources Development College, Zambia
Mathew Moonga
Natural Resources Development College, Zambia
Hezel Syankwede
Natural Resources Development College, Zambia
DOI icon 10.24018/ejfood.2020.2.5.115

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Submitted 2020-09-10
Published 2020-10-13

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Article Main Content

Sorghum has a high similarity to maize and therefore a good substitute for maize based diets in poultry stock-feed. Additionally, sorghum is processed just like maize in both dry and wet milling techniques. Nonetheless, a general misconception in Zambia is that all sorghums have anti-quality factors (tannins). This misconception may have resulted in its underutilisation in poultry feed in Zambia. However, various tannin free varieties and hybrids developed by the Sorghum & Millets Improvement Programme are available in Zambia.
Kuyuma, a tannin free white sorghum variety was used to determine the suitability of using non-tannin white sorghum varieties in quail feed. In this study a maize-based stock-feed diet for quails was substituted with sorghum at four levels: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% in quail meat production. This was followed by measuring: (i) The weekly feed intake, (ii) The weekly gain in body weight and (iii) The weekly feed conversion ratio of quails.
The performance of quails fed on a maize-based diet was identical to quails fed on a sorghum-based diet at nearly all levels of substitution. The conversion ratios of maize and sorghum were also similar. Non-tannin white sorghums like Kuyuma can effectively substitute maize in quail diets. Utilising sorghum in poultry diets could increase its social-economic value and help to reduce the cost of producing meat.

Keywords: Sorghum Stock-feed Quails

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