Study on Determining Appropriate Protein Levels in the Diet of Naked Neck Chickens in Nghe An

Abstract;: This study aimed to determine the appropriate dietary protein levels for commercial Naked Neck chickens in Nghe An province, Vietnam. A total of 450 one-day-old chicks were randomly assigned to three treatments with different crude protein levels: 17%, 18%, and 19% (0–8 weeks), and 15%, 16%, and 17% (9–16 weeks), while metabolizable energy was kept constant at 3000 Kcal/kg. Growth performance, survival rate, and body weight were evaluated over 16 weeks. The results showed that protein levels did not significantly affect survival, which remained high (93.33–94.67%). However, body weight was strongly influenced by dietary protein content. Chickens fed with higher protein diets (19% for 0–8 weeks and 17% for 9–16 weeks) consistently achieved the highest body weights at all stages, while those on the lowest protein diets (17% and 15%) had the lowest weights. These findings suggest that a dietary protein level of 19% in the starter phase and 17% in the grower phase is most suitable for optimizing growth performance in commercial Naked Neck chickens, without compromising survival.