Growth performance, carcass traits, and blood biochemistry of broiler chicks fed with low-fibre sunflower meal and phytase

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate the impact of graded replacements of soybean meal (SBM) with low-fibre sunflower meal (LF-SFM), with and without phytase supplementation, on growth performance, carcass traits, and plasma profile of broilers. A total of 800 mixed sex one-day-old broiler chicks (Cobb 500) were randomly assigned to eight dietary treatment groups (five replicates each) in a 4 2 factorial arrangement, including four levels of LF-SFM (0%, 25%, 50%, and 75% to replace SBM) and two levels of microbial phytase (0 or 0.2 g/kg diet). Feed conversion ratio (FCR), and bodyweight gain (BWG) were decreased significantly if LF-SFM replaced more than 25% SBM. There was no significant effect between the interaction of the main factors (LF-SFM phytase) on growth performance during the starter, grower, finisher and the overall period. The addition of phytase had no beneficial effects on performance traits. Carcass traits were not influenced by feeding LF-SFM or enzyme addition. However, increasing the level of LF-SFM (50% and 75%, respectively) in diets reduced the abdominal fat, whereas the weight of the small intestine was increased. Plasma metabolic profile was not affected by LF-SFM levels in broiler diets, except for high-density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDL-C) and total cholesterol (T-Cho), which were not affected by the dietary enzyme. It is concluded that the diets with LF-SFM levels up to 25% generated growth performance and carcass traits comparable with the diet that contained SBM.