Energy value of dry fat and stabilised rice bran for broiler chickens

1. The ileal digestible energy (IDE), metabolisable energy (ME) and nitrogen-corrected ME (MEn) of dry fat (DF) and stabilised rice bran (SRB) were determined in two experiments with broiler chickens using the regression method.2. Chickens were fed a common broiler starter diet from d 0 to 17 and experimental diets from d 17 to 22 post hatching. Three diets were prepared; a maize-soybean meal reference diet (RD) and two test diets containing either DF at 50 or 100 g/kg replacement (Experiment 1) or SRB at 100 or 200 g/kg replacement (Experiment 2) of the energy-contributing ingredients in the RD. In each experiment, 192 chickens were randomly allocated to one of three dietary treatments in a randomised complete block design, comprising eight replicate cages with eight birds per cage.3. In Experiment 1, the IDE, ME and MEn linearly increased (P < 0.001) with increasing DF concentrations, while in Experiment 2, the IDE, ME and MEn of the diets were not affected by dietary supplemental SRB. The regression-derived IDE concentration for DF and SRB were 25.30 and 14.88 MJ/kg DM, respectively. The respective ME and MEn estimates (MJ/kg DM) were 25.32 and 24.78 for DF; 14.38 and 13.36 for SRB.4. In conclusion, the current data showed that broiler chickens utilised between 77% and 79% and 68% to 76% of the gross energy (GE) in DF and SRB, respectively, and this suggested a strong potential for these ingredients as dietary energy sources for broiler chickens.