Effects of dietary lentil seeds inclusion on performance, carcass characteristics and cecal pH of broiler chickens

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of dietary replacement of soybean meal (SBM) with two cultivars of lentil seeds (cv. Eston, green-seeded and cv. Anicia, green marbled-seeded) on performance, carcass characteristics and pH of the cecal digesta in broiler chick diets. Day old, broiler chicks (1,000; Cobb 500) were randomly allocated to the following 5 treatments, viz. a diet based on corn and SBM as control; 200 g/kg of raw lentil seeds cv. Eston (LE); 400 g/kg of LE; 200 g/kg of raw lentil seeds cv. Anicia (LA); 400 g/kg of LA. The broilers fed raw lentils had comparable BW, ADG, ADFI and FCR to the control group. The digestive organ sizes (i.e. gizzard, heart, liver, pancreas, small intestine, caecum and the small intestine) and cecal pH were not affected by feeding diets with increasing levels of raw lentil seeds. Nevertheless, the data showed that cultivar (cv. Anicia) increased (P = 0.021) small intestine weight. A significant interaction between lentil levels and cultivars was observed for pancreas weight (P=0.042). Carcass, breast, thigh weight and dressing percentage were not affected by feeding diets with lentil seeds. No significant interaction between lentil levels and cultivars was noticed for growth performance, carcass characteristics as well as pH of the cecal digesta. Based on the results, it can be concluded that lentil seeds (cv. Eston or cv. Anicia) can be used as an alternative protein source to replace SBM in broiler chicken diets, at inclusion levels up to 200 g/kg.