Influence of cereal type and fat source on the performance and fat utilisation of broiler starters

• Published in: Animal production science Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 74 - 79
• Main Authors: Tancharoenrat, P, Ravindran, V, Ravindran, G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: CSIRO Publishing 2015
• Subjects: broiler chickens; corn; digestibility; experimental design; ileum; soybean oil; starter diets; tallow; weight gain; wheat
• ISSN: 1836-0939
• DOI: 10.1071/AN13375

An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of cereal type and fat source on performance and utilisation of fat in young broiler chickens. The experimental design was a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments, which included three cereals (wheat, maize or sorghum) and two fat sources (soybean oil or tallow). Broiler starter diets, based on each cereal and supplemented with 60 g/kg of soybean oil or tallow, were fed during the 21-day experimental period. Weight gain was increased (P < 0.05) with soybean oil supplementation compared with tallow supplementation in wheat- and maize-based diets, but was unaffected (P > 0.05) by fat source in sorghum-based diets. Feed per gain was lower (P < 0.05) in birds fed soybean oil diets than those fed tallow-supplemented diets. Coefficients of total tract retention and ileal apparent digestibility of fat were higher (P < 0.05) in birds fed soybean oil diets than in those fed tallow-supplemented diets. Overall, the results suggest that the effect of fat source on weight gain of broiler starters differed depending on the cereal base used, and that soybean oil is a better fat source than tallow for young broilers.