Feeding of low-fibre sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) meal as substitute of soybean meal in Turkey rations: Effects on growth performance and meat quality

Abstract

Soybean meal (SBM) is the most widely and expensive protein source used in the formulation of poultry diets; however, when the price of SBM increases, poultry nutritionists seek alternative sources that are more economical in formulating least-cost rations. This research aimed to evaluate the effects of air classified sunflower meal (SFM) in diets of turkeys on their growth performance, carcass yields and meat quality. Atotal of 140 1-d-old female turkeys (Nicholas 500) were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments which were fed from hatch to 16 wk. The birds were fed two wheat middlings-based diets comprising of a control diet which contained SBM (145 g/kg) and a test diet containing micronized-air classified SFM (172 g/kg) as the main protein source. The substitution of SBM with sunflower had no adverse effect on growth performance and dressing percentage, improving breast and thigh muscles relative weights of the turkeys. Asignificant effect was found for feed intake (P<0.05) which was lower in birds fed diet containing sunflower compared to those fed soybean, without however any negative effects on feed efficiency (P<0.05). Meat from turkeys fed the sunflower diet had less cholesterol (P<0.01) and higher concentrations of phospholipids (P<0.01). Our results suggest that replacing the conventional SBM as protein source, with micronized-air classified SFM in diets of turkeys can improve carcass quality and favourable lipid profile without adverse effects on growth traits, reducing also the production costs. © 2014, Japan Poultry Science Association.