Nutritional Impact of Canola Meal on Performance, Blood Constituents and Immune Response of Broilers

A S Radwan,A A Ghazalah,Hady F A Motawe,A M El-Kaiaty

doi:10.5539/jas.v13n1p135

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacing soybean meal (SBM) protein with canola meal (CM) protein on productive performance, nutrient digestibility, immune response, lymphoid organs, blood parameters, carcass fatty acids and cecum microbiota of broilers. A total of 160 one d-old Arbor Acres broiler chicks were randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatments of 5 replicates, where, CM protein replaced SBM protein at 0, 30, 60, and 90% for a 39 days feeding trial. The results showed no significant differences in productive performance parameters among control, 30% and 60% treatment groups, while, at 90% replacement level, all values decreased (P &lt; 0.0001) all over the experimental period. The 90% replacement group showed depression of crude protein (P &lt; 0.001) and crude fiber (P &lt; 0.001) digestibility and spleen relative weight (P = 0.0386) with increase of thymus (P = 0.0555), bursa (P = 0.0334) and thyroid relative weight (P = 0.0276) as well as thyroid hormones (P = 0.0034, 0339) for T3, T4, respectively, while, there were no significant differences among control, 30% and 60% treatment groups for those criteria. However, CM levels had no effect on serum haemagglutination inhibition (HI) titer against Newcastle disease. CM significantly decreased serum cholesterol content (P = 0.0002) while increased HDL (P = 0.0532), compared to the control. CM levels showed an increase in carcass meat content of unsaturated fatty acids content (P &lt; 0.0001) as the replacement level gradually increased. Erucic acid did not detected in carcass. All CM levels decreased cecum content of E. coli (P = 0.0051) while increased that of Lactobacillus (P = 4094). Conclusively, CM can be used safely in broiler diet to replace up to 60% of SBM protein without negative effects on growth and immune response of broilers.

Highlights

The poultry feeding costs represent approximately 70% of the overall costs of poultry production
Body weight and body weight gain of the group that fed 90% canola meal (CM) diet were significantly lower at all ages compared to the other experimental groups and the control
Feed intake of the groups fed 30 and 60% CM substituted from soybean meal (SBM) protein were not significantly differ, at 90% replacement level, feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly inferior, compared to the control

Summary

Introduction

The poultry feeding costs represent approximately 70% of the overall costs of poultry production. Most countries of the world consider soybean meal (SBM) is the main source of protein in poultry diets (Husak et al, 2008) as in Egypt. According to the USDA (2014), the rapeseed production including canola varieties ranks second among oilseed crops worldwide. Canola Council of Canada (2015) reported that, CM has a widely utilizing as an alternative protein source for soybean meal (SBM) in poultry diets where it has a good balance of essential amino acids. According to Newkirk (2009), the CM contains approximately 40% crude protein, has a good-balanced amino acid profile and high levels of sulfur-containing amino acids compared with SBM

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Conclusion