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Naked oats and soybean hulls as alternative ingredients for broilers: Impact on growth performance and energy metabolism indicators

Avila, A. and M. Létourneau-Montminy
2024

Potential use of alternative and local ingredients such as naked oats (NO) and soybean hull (SH) in poultry industry are based on valuable nutritional and agronomic characteristics. This study was intended to evaluate the suitability of naked oats and soybean hulls on growth performances of chickens. A total of three thousand five hundred-twenty-eight days old ROSS 308 broilers were randomly placed in 72 pens (n=49/pens) and assigned to 3 treatments: 1) Control (commercial diet), 2) NO 15% during starter (1-10 d) and growth (10-21 d) phases, and 3) SH 4% throughout the feeding programme. The diets were formulated to be iso protein and iso energy. Animals and feed were weighed at d10, 21 and 34 to assess body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed conversion (FCR). One broiler per cage was euthanized (d17) to collect tissues and blood samples for the determination of glucose, ketone bodies and lactate. Bone mineralisation was assessed on day 34 by scanning one broiler carcass using dual X-ray absorptiometry. The data were subjected to one- way ANOVA analyzed, and Tukeys test determined the differences between means. Feeding broilers with NO and SH led to significant increases in BW during both the grower (4.35 and 3.36%; P < 0.001) and finisher phases (1.31 and 2.03%; P < 0.001). Compared to the control diet, animals fed NO and SH exhibited increased ADG during the grower phase (5.4 and 3.38%; P < 0.001) and over the entire study period (0-34 d; 1.62 and 1.36%; P < 0.01). Supplementation of NO and SH increased the ADFI of chickens during the starter phase (2.38 and 2.39%; P < 0.002), finisher phase (0.55 and 1.84%; P < 0.001), as well as the cumulative period (ADFI 0-34 days; 0.53 and 1.67%; P < 0.005). Concerning FCR, NO induced a decrease during the starter and grower phases compared to both the control and the SH diet (P < 0.001). Similar effects of NO on FCR reduction were also observed in the cumulative FCR (1.39 vs 1.41; P = 0.001). At d 17, blood ketone bodies (0.59 vs 0.73 mmol/L) and glucose (14.8 vs 16.4 mmol/L) were reduced by SH in comparison with NO (P < 0.04), whereas lactate (9.23 vs 6.70 mmol/L; P = 0.02) was greater when animals received control diet. On day 34, body fat content was reduced (12.8 vs 14.6%; P < 0.02) with the SH diet compared with the Control.

Taken together, the results demonstrate that the inclusion of alternative ingredients such as NO and SH induce an improvement in growth performances and a modulation on energy metabolism. In future steps, it will be crucial to investigate the relationship between indicators of energy metabolism and dietary fiber content, with a particular focus on their influence on body fat composition.