Effect of dietary protein sources and amino acid balances on performance, intestinal permeability and morphology in broiler chickens

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary protein soybean meal (SBM) and cottonseed meal (CSM) sources and Amino Acid (AA) balances on performance, intestinal permeability and morphology in broiler chickens. Methodology: Five hundred and twenty broiler chickens were fed an experimental diet from 21-42 days of age. A completely randomized block design was used with four treatments of SBM+CSM with AA Balance (B) and Imbalance (I) (SBMB and SBMI, SBM+CSMB and SBM+CSMI) were replicated 10 times with 13 broiler chickens per replicate. All respective treatments were kept in the same condition provide the diet twice a day and access to water ad libitum. Results: The results showed that Daily Weight Gain (DWG), Daily Feed Intake (DFI), feed efficiency, Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), carcass yield and dressing percentage were improved with SBMB in comparison with all treatments. Furthermore, SBMB significantly increased most of morphological findings in the intestinal parts studied. Intestinal permeability was (p<0.05) increased in SBMI and SBM+CSMI treatments. Conclusion: It is concluded that the best performance indices could be obtained by using SBMBcarcasses and morphological findings in comparison with other treatments.