Abstract:

Chemical analysis and three feeding trials were undertaken to study the nutritional value of wood ash treated and
untreated serena sorghum in broiler starter diets. Absorbance test using 550 nm wavelength was used to determine the
relative amounts of tannins in both sorghums. In the first feeding trial sorghum constituted 0, 10, 20 and 30 percent of the
added to replace 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of dietary maize. Experiment III studied the
diet. In experiment II, sorghum was
effect of traditional wood ash treatment on the nutritional value of sorghum. The treated sorghum was added to replace
similar proportion of maize as was in experiment II. In all cases diets were formulated to be iso-nitrogenous and iso
caloric at approximately 22% protein and 3200 Kcal ME kg1. Absorbance test revealed that wood ash treatment reduced
slightly the relative amounts of hydrolyzable and condensed tannins and improved the nutritional value of serena sorghum.
While untreated serena sorghum replaced only 50% of maize in the broiler starter diet, treated sorghum replaced maize
100 percent in the diet