Performance of broiler chickens fed sweet potato meal (Ipomoea batatas L.) diets.

Day-old Lohman broiler chicks (n = 120) were fed on five starting diets for 4 weeks in groups of 24 birds. The starting diets contained 0%, 9%, 18%, 27% and 36% sweet potato tuber as a replacement for maize. From the fifth week, the 120 birds were tested in groups of 30 on four finishing diets containing 0%, 15%, 30% and 45% sweet potato tuber as a replacement for maize. The carcass quality was significantly (p < 0.05) improved due to a significant (p < 0.05) reduction of abdominal fat in the birds fed on the 45% sweet potato finisher diets. However, the birds on the sweet potato diet continually passed wet droppings, resulting in a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in body weight and feed conversion efficiency. The optimum levels of inclusion of sweet potato in the diets were considered to be 27% and 30% for starting and finishing broiler chickens, respectively. Sweet potato diets may be a remedy for fatty broilers.