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Faba beans and peas in poultry feed: economic assessment
Author(s) -
Proskina Liga,
Cerina Sallija
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.8415
Subject(s) - broiler , feed conversion ratio , soybean meal , livestock , poultry farming , soya bean , meal , biology , agriculture , animal feed , agronomy , microbiology and biotechnology , zoology , food science , body weight , raw material , ecology , endocrinology
BACKGROUND Broiler diets mainly consist of cereals and protein‐rich feed sources; in the EU ‐27, poultry farming consumes 24% of the total amount of protein‐rich feedstuffs. Since the EU produces only 30% of the total quantity of protein crops used for feed, it is necessary to promote the use of traditional European protein crops (beans, peas) for feed in livestock farming. The research aim is to identify economic gains from the production of broiler chicken meat, replacing soybean meal with domestic faba beans and field peas in broiler chicken diets. RESULTS Adding field peas and faba beans to the broiler feed ration resulted in a significant live weight increase (5.74–11.95%) at the selling age, a decrease in the feed conversion ratio by 0.61–6.06%, and decrease in the product unit cost (15.34–37.06%) as well as an increase in the production efficiency factor (8.70–48.54), compared with the control group. CONCLUSION The optimum kind of legume species used in the broiler diet was peas, which were added in the amount of 200 g kg −1 , resulting in live weight gain, a decrease in the feed conversion ratio and an increase in the production efficiency factor. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry