Sunflower meal as a component of fat-supplemented diets for broiler chickens

An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of diets containing sunflower meal (SFM; 32.6% protein and 18.4% crude fiber) with and without supplemental animal-vegetable (A-V) fat on performance of broiler chickens. A complete factorial arrangement of three levels of SFM (0, 10, or 20%) and two levels of A-V fat (0 or 6%) was used. Diets were fed for ad libitum access to broilers from 1 day to 7 wk of age. Body weight, feed consumption, and MEn of the diets were determined at 4 and 7 wk of age. Results show that the inclusion of 10 or 20% SFM had no effect on body weight gain but impaired (P less than .01) feed efficiency (FE; kilograms of feed consumed per kilogram of gain). The use of 6% A-V fat in the diet increased (P less than .01) weight gain and improved (P less than .01) FE at all levels of SFM in the diet. The extent of improvement in FE caused by 6% A-V fat was greatest with the 10% SFM diet. Nitrogen-corrected metabolizable energy decreased with each 10% increment of SFM and increased with the inclusion of 6% A-V fat in the diet; no interactions were observed.