Nutritional value of diets containing graded levels of wheat distillers grains with solubles fed to broiler chicks

• Published in: Journal of the science of food and agriculture Vol. 87; no. 7; pp. 1386 - 1390
• Main Authors: Thacker, P.A, Widyaratne, G.P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.05.2007; Wiley; John Wiley and Sons, Limited
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; broiler chickens; broiler feeding; Cereal and baking product industries; chicks; Diet; digestibility; Digestive system; distillers grains; experimental diets; Feed science; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Nutrition; nutritive value; Poultry; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Wheat; wheat distillers dried grains with solubles; wheat distillers dried grains with solubles; Vertebrata; Meat animals; Farming animal; Diet; Poultry; Cereal; Chicken; Aves; Performance; Wheat; Digestibility
• ISSN: 0022-5142; 1097-0010
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2871

This feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of graded levels of wheat distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) on nutrient digestibility and performance when fed to broiler chicks. A total of 125, day-old, male broiler chicks (52.8 ± 0.6 g) were fed wheat/soybean meal-based diets containing 0, 5, 10, 15 or 20% wheat DDGS. There were five birds per pen and five replicate pens per treatment. Digestibility coefficients for dry matter (P = 0.001), energy (P = 0.001) and phosphorus (P = 0.001) declined in a linear manner with increasing levels of wheat DDGS in the diet. Despite the lower digestibility of nutrients in diets containing wheat DDGS, there were no significant differences in weight gain (P = 0.721), feed intake (P = 0.748) or feed conversion (P = 0.766) due to the incorporation of wheat DDGS in the diet, although weight gain and feed conversion showed a tendency to decline at the highest inclusion level (20%) in the diet. The overall results of this study indicate that wheat DDGS can be successfully incorporated into diets fed to broiler chicks. Potential detrimental factors contained in wheat DDGS, including a low energy and low lysine content, can be compensated for in diet formulation. Therefore, when the price of alternative feed ingredients dictates, wheat DDGS can be incorporated into diets at levels as high as 15% without detrimental effects on broiler performance.