Feed conversion ratio or FCR is a measure of an animal’s efficiency to convert feed into increased body mass such as milk for dairy cows and goats, eggs for laying birds, meat for meat animals such as broilers, goats, pigs, etc., wool for wool animals like sheep, goats, rabbits, etc.
From the FCR a farmer can know whether his animal are efficiently converting the feed into milk, meat, eggs, wool, etc after consuming the given amount of feeds to his animals.
FCR is easily calculated from a simple formula where FCR = Feed eaten/ animal weight gain.
The lower the value of FCR, the better feed utilized because lower FCR simply means lower feed cost. For example, a broiler bird having an FCR of 1:2 means that to gain 1 kilo of body weight the broiler birds has consumed 2 kilo of feeds. Similarly, a broiler bird having a FCR 1:1.5 means that to gain 1 kilo of body weight the broiler birds has consumed 1.5 kilo of feed. So, here broiler with FCR of 1:1.5 is more efficient in converting feed into meat and saves more feeds which directly reduces the cost of rearing broiler.
The ratio of 1:1 is considered the best in animal husbandry but it is impossible to maintain such ratio as it is impossible to fetch 1 kilo of broiler meat by feeding 1 kilo of feed.
FCR for different animals
1. Poultry: Average FCR is 1:1.5. A standard broiler chicken has FCR of 1:1.3 to 1:1.6
2. Sheep: 1:4 to 1:5 on high quality feed, 1:5 to 1:6 on good quality feed and 1:6 when fed low quality feed.
3. Cattle: 1:12.5
4. Pigs: 1:3 to 1:3.2
5. Rabbits: 1:2.5 to 1:3 on high grain diets and 1:3.5 to 1:4 on forage without grains.
6. Fish: Tilapia has 1:1.6 to 1:8; Catfish has 1:1.5 to 1:5
Factors that affects the FCR
1. Genetics of the animals: Gene make up of the animals play an important role in efficiently using the FCR. For example, the commercial egg laying hens lay more eggs than the local breeds i.e. the commercial birds have more efficiency in converting the feeds into eggs than the local breed.
2. Age of the farm animal: Younger animals have lower FCR as compared to older animals and they grow faster. So, poultry farmers mostly sell their broilers at six weeks as the FCR is lowest upto this age and beyond 6 weeks the broilers will have higher FCR.
3. Quality of the feed given: when quality feed is given to animals they will have lower FCR while the ones fed with low quality feed will have higher FCR.
4. Farm management: Farm management like proper housing for protection from high temperature, cold, rain, etc, along with health care management plays an important role when it comes to having a lower FCR. A healthy animal maintained in clean environment will have lower FCR than animals reared in unhygienic conditions which is borne to sickness.
Tips for achieving lower FCR
1. Provide right environment to your animals. When animals are kept at comfort they have more access to water and feed which helps to lower the FCR.
2. Avoid mycotoxin contamination in feed. Mould growth in feed will produce mycotoxin which is toxic to animals. So, proper care in feed storage should be practiced and never fed mouldy feeds.
3. Use right kind of feeder. Using the right type of feeder will avoid feed wastage that goes unnoticed and unnecessarily increase the feed cost that can be avoided.
4. Do not over fed your animal. Over feeding will increase the FCR and add to your feed cost. So avoid it as much as possible.
5. Keep your animals healthy. Healthy animals will have better FCR than sick animals. So, animals should be kept healthy following all the protocols to maintain proper hygiene, sanitation, strict bio security and procurement from disease free source.
Conclusion
To achieve lower FCR, one should follow all the guidelines as discussed. The lower the FCR, the better the performance of your farm which ultimately will give better profits. Animals having lower FCR are consider best as they consume less feed to convert them into output such as meat, milk, eggs, wool etc. so, always keep a target to achieve lower FCR to increase productivity of your farm.
Submitted by-
Dr. S Sarendi Walling
Animal Science Division,
Krishi Vigyan Kendra,
Mokokchung: Nagaland.