Reduction in Abdominal Fat Content of Broiler Chickens by the Addition of Feather Meal to Finisher Diets

Abstract

Two trials were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of feather meal (FM) as a protein source for reducing abdominal fat in broilers during the finishing period (35 to 49 days of age). Birds were grown to 35 days of age on diets that met the National Research Council (NRC, 1984) nutrient recommendations and then assigned to one of the test diets.In the first trial, FM was added to the diets at 0, 2, 4, or 6%, assuming 100, 50, or 0% amino acid availability (based on the NRC amino acid values for FM). Addition of FM resulted in an increase in dietary protein content. Sample birds were processed at 49 days of age to determine abdominal fat content and dressing percentage. Addition of FM resulted in a significant (P<.05) reduction in abdominal fat regardless of assumed amino acid availability. There were no significant differences in rate of gain, feed efficiency, and dressing percentage.In Trial 2, test diets were fed either from 35 to 49 days of age with 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8% FM or from 42 to 49 days of age with 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10% FM. All diets were formulated assuming 50% amino acid availability. A significant (P<.05) reduction in abdominal fat was again observed in birds fed FM except at the 2% FM level. No significant differences occurred in body weight, efficiency of food utilization, and dressing percentage. These data indicate that short-term feeding of FM may aid in reducing abdominal fat deposition in broilers. This reduction is probably due to the increased dietary protein content associated with FM addition, but the possibility that certain nonessential amino acids present in FM contribute to the reduction cannot be totally ruled out.