Chemical composition of solar-dried blood meal and its effect on performance of broiler chickens

The crude protein, fat, fibre, ash and nitrogen-corrected true metabolisabl e energy contents of solar-dried blood meal (SDBM) were 852.3 g kg(-1) DM, 14.9 g kg(-1) DM, 35.1 g kg(-1) DM, 20.6 g kg(-1) DM, and 13.08 MJ kg(-1) D M, respectively. It contained 73.7 g available lysine kg(-1) DM. In a feedi ng trial, 480 commercial broiler chicks were randomly allocated to one of f our dietary treatments in a completely randomised design. The dietary treat ments consisted of the control diet, which contained fishmeal and groundnut cake as the main protein sources, and three other diets which contained va rying levels of SDBM (25, 50 and 75 g kg(-1)). The experimental diets were formulated to be both isoproteic and isoenergetic, Feed and water were prov ided ad libitum for a period of 5 weeks. Data for the entire 35 days growth assay, indicate the concentration of SDBM in the diet had no impact on fee d intake. However, birds fed SDBM at 50 or 75 g kg(-1) had better weight ga ins and feed efficiency (p < 0.05) than birds fed 25 g kg(-1) SDBM and the SDBM-free diet. carcass yields were similar. Mortality was also unaffected by dietary treatments. In addition, blood parameters (red cell count, haemo globin, haematocrit and total protein) were unchanged by dietary treatment (p > 0.05), Analysis of productive parameters indicated that dietary SDBM u p to 75 g kg(-1) had a positive effect on growth performance and that parti al replacement of other protein sources (fishmeal and groundnut cake) with SDBM was possible. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.