Nutritional Deficiencies of Sunflower Seed Oil Meal for Chicks

Abstract

EVEN though sunflower seeds have been used for a considerable time in feeding of poultry, there are comparatively few references in the literature describing the nutritive value of the sunflower seed proteins. Mitchell, Hamilton and Beadles (1945) reported that the biological value of sunflower seed protein was considerably lower than that of properly heated soybean oil meal protein for the rat. Because of the high protein content of sunflower seed oil meal, the “net protein value” was higher than that of either soybean oil meal or coconut meal in their experiments with rats. Grau and Almquist (1945) found that sunflower seed oil meal when included in a chick diet to supply 20 percent of protein was a complete source of the essential amino acids required by the chick for growth. On the basis of their findings, they concluded that sunflower seed oil meal was a complete source of essential amino . . .