Influence of feed form and source of soybean meal of the diet on growth performance of broilers from 1 to 42 days of age. 1. Floor pen study

• Published in: Poultry science Vol. 91; no. 11; pp. 2838 - 2844
• Main Authors: Serrano, M P, Valencia, D G, Méndez, J, Mateos, G G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.11.2012
• Subjects: Aging; Animal Feed - analysis; Animal Husbandry; Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; Chickens - growth & development; Diet - veterinary; Glycine max - chemistry; Glycine max - metabolism; Housing, Animal; Male
• ISSN: 0032-5791
• DOI: 10.3382/ps.2012-02371

In total, 3,120 broilers were used to study the effects of feed form and source of soybean meal (SBM) of the diet on growth performance. From 1 to 21 d of age, there were 12 treatments arranged factorially with 3 feed forms (mash, crumbles, and pellets) and 4 commercial sources of SBM that differed in the CP content [48.1 and 46.2% CP from the United States (USA-1 and USA-2), 47.6% CP from Brazil (BRA), and 46.3% CP from Argentina (ARG)]. From 21 to 42 d of age, diets were fed as pellets. Diets were formulated assuming that all SBM had similar digestible amino acid content per unit of CP. From 1 to 21 d of age, chicks fed crumbles or pellets had higher (P < 0.001) ADG than chicks fed mash. Also, chicks fed pellets had better (P < 0.001) feed-to-gain ratio (F:G) than chicks fed crumbles, and both were better than chicks fed mash. However, from 21 to 42 d of age, F:G was best (P < 0.001) for chicks previously fed mash. For the entire experimental period, broilers that were fed crumbles or pellets from 1 to 21 d of age had higher (P < 0.001) ADG than broilers that were fed mash. Also, broilers that were fed pellets had better (P < 0.05) F:G than broilers fed mash, with broilers fed crumbles being intermediate. Broilers fed the USA-2 meal had higher (P < 0.01) ADG than broilers fed the BRA or the ARG meals, with broilers fed the USA-1 meal being intermediate. Feed efficiency tended (P = 0.07) to be hindered in broilers fed the BRA meal. The results show that pelleting improved growth performance of broilers from 1 to 42 d of age with effects being less evident at 42 d than at 21 d of age. Source of SBM affected growth performance suggesting the need for a better control of chemical composition and quality of this ingredient before diet formulation.