The performance of broilers offered sorghum - compared to wheat-based diets: a large sacle experiment.

Sufficient evidence tended to indicate that at least four factors can negatively influence broiler performance when offered sorghum-based diets; in particular energy utilisation of sorghum in young birds. It was proposed that mainly CT would further influence sorghum grain AME values when consumed by young chicks (0-7 and 7-14 d old). Overall, birds consuming sorghum-based diets during the starter phase (0-21 d), did not match the performance of birds offered wheat-based diets. The use of phytase enzymes in sorghum-based diets tended to improve bird performance. However, reducing the obtained AME of sorghum grains by -0.8 MJ during the 0-21 d period appears to be a practical solution.