Performance of broilers fed with different levels of sunflower meal supplemented with or without enzymes

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to determine the performances and some carcass and small intestine properties of broiler chickens fed diets in which sunflower meal (SFM) replaced soybean meal (SBM) and supplemented or not with multi enzyme. With this aim, a total of 450 1-day-old age mixed-sex Ross 308 broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design, with five treatments and three replicates of thirty birds each. The experimental diets consisted of a control group and two levels of SFM with or without enzyme replacing 50 or 100% of SBM protein, respectively. Hence, treatment groups were: control (100SBM), 50SFM, 100SFM, 50SFME, and 100SFME). Feed and fresh water was given freely. At the end of the experiment (42 days of age), 100SBM broilers had higher body weight and cold carcass weight than all other groups (P <0.05) and had lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to 50SFME broilers (P <0.05). Feed consumption, weights of hearth, liver, gizzard, abdominal fat and small intestine and length of small intestine were not found different among the groups (P>0.05). Our observations demostrated that addition of the 0.05% multi-enzyme mixture into SFM diets of broiler chickens had not positive impact on the availability of SFM and broiler performance.