Aceh Journal of Animal Science (2022) 7 (1): 1 - 6 Aceh Journal of Animal Science Journal homepage: www.jurnal.unsyiah.ac.id/AJAS * Corresponding author. Email address: albanmugoti@gmail.com Printed ISSN 2502-9568; Electronic ISSN 2622-8734 This is an open access article under the CC - BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Response of broiler chickens Gallus gallus domesticus to dietary supplementation with LAB-treated sorghum seed Mugoti Alban, Chikumba Nation, Munengwa Anderson Department of Animal Production Sciences and Health, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Zimbabwe. ARTICEL INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Broiler Fermentation Lab-treated Diet Received: 12 October 2020 Accepted: 17 September 2021 Available online: 21 April 2021 DOI: 10.13170/ajas.6.3.18271 In recent years, livestock production has been heavily affected due to the effects of climate change with shortages in feed being recorded. A study was conducted to determine the effect of fermented Sorghum bicolor grain on the growth of broiler chickens. The study aimed to utilize available feed resources without compromising on animal productivity and health. A total of 160 day-old Cobb broiler chicks were used which were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments of 10 birds for each treatment. The treatments were replicated four times. Different levels of ground, LAB-treated sorghum were analyzed on growth performance, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass, and organ weights. The diets were each formulated as T1, T2, T3, and T4 for 25%, 50%, 75%, and 0% LAB- treated sorghum inclusions respectively. T4 was the control. The remaining percentage was filled with general feed which is the commercially available feed. The results revealed that growth performance and FCR of the broilers on T1 were similar to those of the control diet but interestingly superior (P<0.05) to T2 and T3-fed birds. Birds fed on T3 had a low feed intake (p<0.05) as compared to other treatment diets. Mortality was depressed (p<0.05) in T1 as compared to T2, T3, and T4 respectively but was significantly (p<0.05) similar between T4 (control) and T2. Live weight of birds with 25% sorghum inclusion compared favorably with the control (T4) (P<0.05) as was the carcass and percentage dressed weights. Internal organ weights (liver, gizzard, and heart) of the 3 treatments (T1, T2, and T4) were significantly (p<0.05) lower than that of birds under T2 (50% sorghum inclusion). It was concluded that the inclusion of 25% LAB-treated sorghum in broiler rations brought about a better performance than 0%, 50%, and 75% LAB- treated sorghum inclusion levels. Introduction Broiler chickens Gallus gallus domesticus have assumed an important role in the livelihoods of urban, peri-urban, and rural households in Zimbabwe (Gororo and Kashangura, 2016). The Livestock and Meat Advisory Council of Zimbabwe in 2013 revealed that 70% of all commercial day-old chicks produced in Zimbabwe are broilers, and emerging, relatively small-scale informal producers account for the bulk (65%) of production. Zimbabwe has been experiencing a steady increase in poultry production since the year. In subsequent years, 55.1 million and 64.4 million birds were recorded by 2012 and 2013 year ends respectively. In the years 2015 and 2016 production remained steady at 75.9 million and 78.8 million birds respectively. However, in the year 2017, production plummeted to 68.9 million due to the avian influenza disease outbreak (FAO, 2017). Since then, there have been efforts for the sector to regain consciousness and this has been adversely affected due to the current economic impasse in the country characterized by high operating costs. Droughts on the other hand have been degrading the levels of production of the much-needed feed ingredients like maize and soya. Meanwhile, poultry production cannot be ignored as it is the main source of protein in most African diets (Roppa, 2012; Munengwa et al., 2020; Khaskheli et al., 2020; Akintunde et al., 2021). It is regarded as an important enterprise of Agriculture due to its immediate