Importance of banana flour and its effect on growth performance of broiler

The main objective of this work was to study the effects of banana flour as energy sources on broiler performance. Seventy-five broilers were randomly distributed into five groups each with 15 broilers (n = 15 broilers/group). The broilers were grouped to maize-soybean meal diet as control, T₁ : (5% of banana flour), T₂ : (10% of banana flour), T₃ : (15% of banana flour), and T₄ : (20% of banana flour). The parameters analyzed in this research were body weight, daily weight gain, and daily feed intake at days 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40. The results showed no significant effects on body weight during the time of assessment, showing healthy values (>1,400 g) in all treatments (p > .05). Daily Weight gain was affected significantly during the days of assessment (p < .05). In all treatments and at different days of assessment, T₃ showed the highest daily weight gain at day 10 (37.56 ± 4.52 g) compared to the other experimental treatments. Regarding daily feed intake, significant differences were observed at day 10 in the control and treatments T₁ , T₂ , T₃ , and T₄ compared to days 20, 30, and 40 (p < .05), being the highest value for T₁ (35.14 ± 2.77).