Introduction

1. EFFECTS OF SORGHUM VARIETY ON GROWTH AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS IN BROILER CHICKS REARED IN WEST AFRICA S. Issa1, 2, J. D. Hancock1, M. R. Tuinstra1, I. Kapran2, and S. Kaka2; 1Kansas State University, Manhattan, and 2National Institute for Agricultural Research in Niger (INRAN), Niamey Introduction Results In Niger, locally produced sorghum is generally less expensive than imported corn and should play an important role in diets for animals such as poultry. Yet, poultry producers are fearful of sorghum-based diets because of misconceptions about the content and biological activity of tannins. Objective To determine the feeding value of diets made with imported corn, a local landrace sorghum, and an improved sorghum variety in broilers. Procedures A total of 840 1-d-old broiler chicks (Arbor strain with 40 chicks/pen and 7 pens/treatment) were used in a 60-d growth assay. Treatments were: - Imported corn - A locally produced landrace sorghum (Mota Galmi) with red seed, purple plant, and 0.3 mg ofCE/100mg grain DM - An agronomically improved variety (IRAT204) with white seed, tan plant, and no detectable tannins Feed and water were consumed on an ad-libitum basis. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with orthogonal contrasts used to separate treatment means. Conclusions Birds fed corn had greater rate of gain and feed intake than birds fed sorghum. However, there were no differences among birds fed corn vs sorghum for efficiency of growth or carcass yield. The advantages that were observed for corn-fed birds resulted primarily from the lower nutritional value of the agronomically improved sorghum variety.