Balancing biological performance, profitability and external feed dependency in farmer managed broiler systems in Zambia

Feed costs constrain smallholder broiler profitability, yet feeding strategies are often assessed mainly on growth performance. This study compared commercial, concentrate-based and home-mixed feeding systems under participatory farmer-managed conditions at two Zambian sites. Six farmer hosts implemented all three systems, producing 18 treatment-group units of approximately 10 birds each. Individual-bird observations were aggregated to treatment-group level before analysis. Feeding system and site were fixed effects, while farmer host was a random blocking effect. Feeding system significantly affected live weight, F(2,10) = 14.56, P = 0.001. Commercial feeding produced the greatest adjusted mean live weight (2.55 kg, 95% CI 2.31–2.80), followed by concentrate-based (2.15 kg) and home-mixed feeding (1.96 kg). Commercial feeding produced significantly greater live weight than both alternative systems, whereas concentrate-based and home-mixed feeding did not differ significantly after Tukey adjustment. Feed conversion ratio was numerically best under commercial and poorest under home-mixed feeding, but the overall feeding-system effect was not statistically significant, F(2,10) = 0.48, P = 0.633. Production cost was highest under commercial feeding (ZMW 96.55 per bird), intermediate under concentrate-based feeding (ZMW 74.61), and lowest under home-mixed feeding (ZMW 60.92). Commercial feeding generated the greatest gross live-weight revenue, but net profit did not differ significantly among systems, F(2,10) = 0.22, P = 0.803. Under whole-bird pricing, profit differed significantly, F(2,10) = 64.83, P < 0.001, with home-mixed feeding most profitable. A study-specific External Feed Dependency Index was 1.00, 0.40 and 0.03 for commercial, concentrate-based and home-mixed feeding systems, respectively. Commercial feeding suits weight-rewarding markets, whereas home-mixed feeding may provide greater margins under fixed-price sales. Findings are limited to two sites and one production cycle.