An Evaluation of the Feeding Value of Prolina Soybean Meal in Male Broiler Chicken Diets by Altering Dietary Protein, Amino Acids, and Metabolizable Energy
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Date
2005-03-31
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Abstract
The purpose of this research was to evaluate Prolina, a soybean cultivar developed through traditional plant breeding, as a potential feedstuff in male broiler chicken diets. Prolina soybeans were selected to possess relatively higher oil and protein while maintaining agronomic yields to improve the potential profitability of the soybean grower.
Since a large portion of the value of the soybean lies in the soybean meal used as a primary protein source in poultry and other livestock diets, six experiments were designed to investigate the effects of Prolina soybean meal when substituted for commercially available soybean meals in broiler diets. Two batches of Prolina soybeans and commercial variety soybeans were grown and processed into soybean meals. Several laboratory analyses were performed on the soybean meal samples to estimate available nutrient content such as percentage amino acids and metabolizable energy. Various strains and crosses of male broilers in both battery cages and floor pens were utilized. The response of the broilers to the dietary treatments containing the different soybean meals were generally measured by body weight, feed efficiency, and livability.
Although the experiments were able to establish that broilers could respond to increased dietary crude protein and metabolizable energy with increased body weight and improved feed efficiency, it was difficult to differentiate this effect among the soybean meal sources. However, it was observed that when dietary metabolizable energy was limiting in a diet that was formulated to be deficient in crude protein, Prolina soybean meal fed broilers had higher body weight as compared to those fed the commercial variety soybean meals. In the final experiment, Prolina soybean meal fed broilers had the best overall performance (measured using the European Efficiency Factor) compared to birds fed commercial variety soybean meal under heat stress conditions. Supplementation of amino acids to the diet did not directly improve broiler performance, however, it was shown that birds fed diets supplemented with L-threonine had improved livability under heat stress conditions.
The six experiments conducted established that Prolina soybean meal could be substituted for commercial variety soybean meals without any decrease in broiler performance. Positive results for Prolina soybean meal were found when dietary crude protein and metabolizable energy were limiting or during heat stress conditions. Therefore, Prolina soybean meal may have an increased value in areas where these circumstances may exist.
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broiler, body weight, feed conversion ratio, livability, crude protein, amino acids, threonine, metabolizable energy, soybean meal, Prolina, feeding trial, European Efficiency Factor, Heat stress
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Degree
MS
Discipline
Poultry Science
