Abstract:
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of effective microorganisms (EM) on production
and reproduction performance of Rhode Island Red (RIR) chickens. We conducted two experiments,
in experiment one twelve groups each with 29 unsexed day old RIR chicks were randomly assigned to
4 treatments containing 0, 4, 8 and 12 ml of EM/litre of drinking water with 3 replication for study
period of 12 weeks. In experiment two, eight groups each with 12 pullets and two cockerels were
randomly assigned to 4 treatment levels 0, 4, 8 and 12 ml of EM/litre of drinking water with 2
replication for the study period of 22 weeks. Feed consumption, chick growth, feed conversion
efficiency, survival rate, egg production, egg quality, fertility, and hatchability were used for
evaluation. The results of experiment 1, showed that there was no significant difference between all
the treatment groups (P>0.05) in feed consumption. The overall mean body weight gain of the
groups of chicks placed on the treatment containing 12 ml of EM/liter of drinking water (T4) was
significantly (P<0.05) higher than all the others and all the groups placed on 4 – 12 ml of EM/liter
of drinking water showed significantly (P<0.05) higher feed conversion efficiency than the control
group. About 90% of the chicks placed on T4 survived to an age of 8 weeks, the value was
significantly (P<0.05) higher than all the others. The results of experiment 2, showed that there was
no significant difference between all the treatment groups of pullets in feed consumption, age at first
egg and survival rate (P>0.05). The overall mean body weight gain of the groups of pullets placed
on the treatment containing 8 and 12 ml of EM/liter of drinking water (T3) was significantly
(P<0.05) higher than the control groups, while there was no significant (P>0.05) difference for feed
conversion efficiency in all treatment groups of pullets. There was no significant (p>0.05) difference
between all the groups of layers in feed consumption, fertility and hatchability (P<0.05). The overall
mean weekly egg production was significantly higher (P<0.05) for the groups of layers placed on the
treatment containing 4 ml of EM/liter of drinking water(T2), followed by the group placed on 8-12 ml
of EM/liter of drinking water(T3 and T4). In summary, the results of this study showed that inclusion
of EM showed improvement in survival rate, growth, egg production, feed conversion efficiency and
egg quality parameters. Production of original EM culture under local environment and
investigating into the feasibility of extending EM technology to increase productivity of indigenous
chickens could be the future direction of research.
