Calorific Value of Cereals and Cereal by-products in Growing Male Broilers

An experiment was conducted to determine apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen (AMEn) of commonly used cereals and cereal by-products in poultry diet. Three samples each of corn, rice broken (RB), rice polishings (RP) and wheat bran (WB) were assayed for AMEn by substitution method using 21-days-old broilers. The 12 experimental diets (4 ingredients x 3 samples) were formulated by substituting the corn-soybean meal basal diet with 30% test ingredients. The acid insoluble ash was added at 1% of all diets. The 468 day-old male broiler chicks (Hubbard x Hubbard) were reared on basal diet from day 1 to 13 and thereafter, experimental diets were offered ad libitum to birds from 14 to 21days. Each diet was offered to 36 birds, equally distributed to six replicate pens. The basal diet continued to feed the birds of six replicates from day 14 to 21. The excreta samples were collected from day 19‒21 to calculate AMEn. The average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated. Data regarding ADFI, ADG, FCR and AMEn were analyzed using GLM procedures of SAS while means were partitioned by t-test. The ADFI, ADG, FCR and AMEn remained unaltered (P>0.05) by feeding diets based on samples of same feed ingredient except the RP and WB. The birds fed RP and WB based diets showed varying (P<0.05) AMEn among the samples. The birds fed corn substituted basal diet had higher (P<0.05) ADG (56.03 g) followed by RB (50.04 g), WB (45.87 g) and RP (43.61 g) diets. The ADFI of broilers fed corn diets was highest (P<0.05) while it was lowest with RB based diets. The birds showed improved (P<0.05) FCR by feeding RB diet followed by corn, WB and RP diets. The average AMEn of RB and corn was 3372 and 3315 kcal/kg, respectively. In cereal by-products, the RP and WB had 1936 and 1760 kcal/kg AMEn, respectively. In conclusion, varying growth pattern of broilers was observed by feeding corn, RB, RP and WB substituted diets. The RB and RP’s AMEn was higher in cereals and cereal by-products, respectively. © 2016 Friends Science Publishers