Effect of Dietary Inclusion of Sunflower Meal on Performance, Carcass Traits, Litter Moisture and Economic Efficiency of Broiler Chickens

An experiment was designed to investigate the influence of different levels of dietary inclusion of sunflower meal on broiler's productive performance, serum lipid profile, carcass traits, litter moisture and economic efficiency. One hundred and twenty, day-old Cobb broiler chicks were assigned randomly into 5 equal groups, each contained 24 chicks in three replicate pens (8 chicks/pen). Group 1 was fed on basal diet without sunflower meal and kept as a control group, while groups from 2 to 5 were fed on diets contained 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10% sunflower meal, respectively. Birds individual weights and pen feed consumed were determined for each feeding period for determining the average body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). At the trial end, a total of six birds from each group were picked randomly, slaughtered and the visceral organs (liver, gizzard, heart and spleen) plus fat pad were separately weighed for calculating the dressing percentage and the percentage of internal organs relative to carcass weight. Furthermore, litter moisture percentage and economic efficiency were calculated at the trial end. The averages of BW, ADG, ADFI and FCR were not significantly differed among groups. No differences (P>0.05) were observed in the serum lipid parameters and carcass traits among experimental groups. However, the spleen percentage was significantly higher in broilers group that fed on 10% sunflower meal in comparison to those fed on 2.5, 5 and 7.5 sunflower meal, while the litter moisture percentage was not significantly affected. The best economic efficiency was reported in broilers group fed on 10% sunflower meal but the difference did not reach the significance level. It is concluded that levels up to 10% of sunflower meal can be successfully incorporated in broiler chicken diets.