Effect of alternative protein sources on growth performance, plasma mineral concentration, bone mineralisation and mineral digestibility in broiler chickens

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of rapeseed meal (RSM), sunflower meal (SFM), canola meal (CM) and guar meal (GM) respectively at 50, 60, 100 and 50g/kg in a maize soyabean based diet on growth performance, plasma mineral concentration, bone mineralisation and mineral digestibility in broiler chickens. The control diet had soya bean meal (SBM; 320g/kg). Day old Hubbard broilers were allocated to five treatments each with 4 replicates and 10 birds. Partial replacement of SBM with other protein sources resulted in heavier (P<0.05) birds compared to control. Bone mineralisation was not affected (P>0.05) by diets. Plasma Ca concentration was higher (P<0.05) in birds fed GM compared to all other treatments. Retention of P, Mg, Na, Cu was increased and Ca retention was decreased in birds fed control diet whereas, no differences (P>0.05) were observed between treatments in K, Fe and Mn retention values. In conclusion, alternative protein sources improved growth but had variable effects on mineral utilisation.