The Effects of Feeding Commercial Feed on Growth and Mortality of Balitbangtan-bred Chicken During the Starter Phase

Produced by Balitbangtan, Indonesia Kampung Unggul Balitbangtan (KUB) chicken was designated over six generations from a variety of native chickens that originated in Cianjur, Depok, Majalengka, and Bogor. KUB hens are designed for both broiler and layer farming. This chicken has never been reared at the University of Bengkulu. Primarily, no commercial feed has been generally used for local chicken feeding management for economic reasons. The study aimed to analyze the performance of feed consumption, body weight, FCR, and mortality rate of mixed-sex KUB chicks during 28 days of an intensive rearing phase. The research was conducted at the Commercial Zone of Animal Laboratory (CZAL) Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Bengkulu Indonesia. 100 KUB chicks were used in this study variables collected weekly, tabulated, and calculated for average, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation. Results showed the average body weight was 7.351,25 ± 2.893,37 g/chick; the average feed consumption was 190.16 g/chick/day, the average FCR was 2.45, and the mortality rate was 0%. It can be concluded that mixed-sex KUB chicks’ body weights were increased, similar to their increased feed consumption, resulting in zero mortality. However, feeding them with commercial feed seems less efficient based on their FCR ≥ 1.