24/01/2025
ALL ABOUT FEED CONVERSION RATIO (FCR), IN BROILER PRODUCTION
The Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) is like a pivotal role in poultry farming that quantifies the efficiency of converting feed into body weight gain. It's calculated by dividing the total amount of feed consumed by a group of birds by the total weight they gain during a specific period. A lower FCR indicates better feed efficiency.
For example,If a group of broilers consumes 2,500 kilograms of feed and gains 1,500 kilograms of body weight, the FCR would be calculated as 2,500 kg รท 1,500 kg = 1.6. This means it took 1.6 kilograms of feed to produce 1 kilogram of body weight.
FACTORS AFFECTING FCR:
1. BREED OF BROILER: Fast growing breed of broiler generally have better FCR compared to slow-growing broiler breed. Even if fed with high quality feed, if the broiler breed is poor or slow growing, the result wonโt show meaning, they wonโt be converting into body weight as it supposed to.
2. FEED QUALITY: The second most significant here is feed quality, high quality feed with the right balance of nutrients helps lower FCR. Poor quality feed will result to poor growth rate/poor converting into body weight.
3. MANAGEMENT: Proper management practices like, bio-security measures, regular health checks, practicing preventive measures against disease outbreaks, litters management and reduced stressing of birds, all this can improve FCR. As poor management can lead to higher FCR as stressed, dirty houses and unhealthy birds donโt efficiently utilize feed.
The joy of every farmer is to archive better results after all the effort been made.
Always weigh your birds to know how theyโre converting into body weight.
Regional Livestock Directorate Basse URR