Were assessed the
effect of five traditional diets backyard turkeys in confinement. The experiment
lasted 36 weeks, the turkeys were randomized to one of five diets: kitchen
waste + fresh forage (T1), kitchen waste (T2), commercial feed + fresh forage
(T3), cracked corn + fresh forage (T4) and commercial feed (T5). Food and water were provided ad libitum. Each treatment with birds of both sexes had
two repetitions with four birds and each bird was considered as an experimental unit. Were evaluated daily weight gain, total weight gain, final live weight, total length peak-tail, monthly gain peak-tail, total length,
total length of wings, monthly gain wings length, and feed cost. The data were
analyzed in a completely randomized arrangement with adjusted means and
Tukey’s mean comparison, then an evaluation of treatment groups by analyzing
clusters for semi quantitative data. The biggest daily gain, total weight gain
and final live weight was obtained with treatment T3, while the highest
increase in peak-length tail and wings was obtained with treatment T1 (P < 0.05).
T2 treatment turned out to be most economical, but the treatment that best
scores obtained was T1. We conclude that the use of kitchen waste + fresh
forage is a feasible strategy to feed slow-growing turkeys.