THE USE OF LUPINS IN POULTRY DIETS

The effect of sweet lupins, particularly the variety Amiga, in rations for laying hens and broilers was tested. The effect of the addition o f lupins to a layer diet on laying performance, egg composition, egg q uality, organoleptic characteristics of the eggs and on the compositio n of the faeces was the subject of the first experiment. 1000 layers e ach (around two years of age and in their third laying period) were ke pt in batteries and separated in a control (group 1) and an experiment al group (group 2). The experiment lasted for two months. The ration o f the control group was a commercial all mash layer diet. The diet of the experimental group was formulated by replacing a part of the soybe an meal and wheat in the ration by 10 % lupins. Due to the significant ly higher laying performance of group 2 feed efficiency of group 1 (2. 60 kg/kg eggmass) was higher (+0.16 kg/kg eggmass). The percentage of broken eggs was significantly higher and egg shell stability was signi ficantly lower in group 1. There were no significant differences betwe en the eggs of the two groups in organoleptic tests. In the second exp eriment, the effects of 6, 12 and 18 % lupins in an all mash broiler d iet on the fattening performance and carcass characteristics as well a s on the meat and fat quality were evaluated. Each of the f our groups consisted of five pens (= five replicates) with 65 chickens in each p en. The chickens were kept on deep litter in a controlled climate. The experiment extended over a period of 43 days. No significant differen ces were found regarding fattening performance, percent of fat and per cent of valuable carcass parts.