نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 گروه علوم دامی، دانشکده کشاورزی، دانشگاه زنجان، زنجان، ایران
2 گروه علوم دامی، دانشکده کشاورزی، دانشگاه زنجان، زنجان، ایران.
3 بخش تغذیه و فیزیولوژی دام و طیور، مؤسسه تحقیقات علوم دامی کشور، سازمان آموزش، تحقیقات و ترویج کشاورزی، کرج، ایران.
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
In this study, 750 Arian broiler chickens were used in a completely randomized design with five treatments, five replicates and 30 chicks per each replicate from 1 to 40 d of age. The experimental treatments contained 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% processed corn instead of unprocessed corn in the diet. The processed corn was prepared prior to this experiment through several processing steps including fermentation, cooking and infrared irradiation. All diets were formulated based on the recommendations of the Arian guideline and were nutritionally identical. The results showed that the use of processed corn throughout the rearing period (1 to 40 d of age) had no effect on growth performance, carcass characteristics, blood biochemical traits and antibody titers against sheep red blood cells and Newcastle disease virus. Nevertheless,observations at specific time points indicated that, increasing the level of processed corn at 35 days of age led to a linear and quadratic improvement in body weight and feed conversion ratio, while feed intake improved quadratically from 1 to 28 days of age. Additionally, a higher relative breast weight was observed in a linear and quadratic manner. leal digestibility of protein and energy, as well as antibody titer against influenza, increased linearly and quadratically with higher levels of processed corn in the diet (P<0.05). Overall, Processing corn positively affected growth at certain points, with 75% replacement showing better results than other levels.
کلیدواژهها [English]
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Corn is widely regarded as an excellent energy source in poultry diets due to its abundant starch and oil content. As the most palatable cereal grain, it is frequently used as a benchmark for assessing the nutritional value of other grains. To enhance feed quality and nutrient availability, numerous processing methods are applied, including washing, soaking, cracking, grinding, drying, heat treatment, rolling, pelleting, and fermentation. These techniques whether physical, chemical, or microbiological can improve nutritional properties, extend shelf life, and impact production costs depending on the method employed. Research on broiler chickens has revealed that certain processing techniques, such as expansion and extrusion, do not significantly influence body weight, whereas fermented corn has been linked to increased weight gain. While feed conversion ratio (FCR) remains unaffected by extrusion and fermentation, it has been shown to improve with the use of expanded corn. Processing other feed components has yielded varied results: for example, extruded soybean meal and faba beans have been shown to enhance growth performance and reduce FCR, whereas micronized sunflower, flaxseed, camelina, and extruded faba beans have not demonstrated a significant effect on body weight. In contrast to previous studies that examined the impact of individual processing methods, but the present study explores the effects of multiple processing techniques, including fermentation, cooking and infrared irradiation application on corn, used at different inclusion levels (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%). The objective is to assess their combined influence on broiler growth performance, immune response, and nutrient digestibility, offering a more holistic comparison to earlier research.
Materials and Methods
In this study, 750 Arian broiler chickens were used in a completely randomized design with five treatments, five replicates and 30 chicks per each replicate from 1 to 40 d of age. The experimental treatments contained 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% processed corn instead of unprocessed corn in the diet. The processed corn was prepared prior to this experiment through several processing steps, including fermentation, cooking and infrared irradiation. All diets were formulated based on the recommendations of the Arian guideline and were nutritionally identical.
Results and Discussion
The results indicated that using processed corn throughout the entire growth period (1 to 40 d of age) had no significant effect on growth performance, carcass characteristics, blood biochemical parameters, or antibody titers against sheep red blood cells and Newcastle disease. Nevertheless,observations at specific time points indicated that gradually increasing the level of processed corn in the diet improved body weight (linear), which was likely influenced by the age of the birds. Notably, as the birds age, their digestive systems developed and digestion improve, reducing the need for processed corn toward the end of the rearing period. This improvement in digestive function was also reflected in the results related to nutrient digestibility.The FCR was improved quadratically at 35 d age, likely due to reduced feed intake and more efficient nutrient absorption, leading to higher weight. Increased feed intake between 1-28 d of age was likely a result of greater nutrient absorption from the higher processed corn levels. Additionally, the inclusion of processed corn resulted in higher relative breast weight (linear and quadratic). The ileal digestibility of crude protein and energy, and antibody titers against avian influenza were increased linearly and quadratically with higher levels of processed corn in the diet. The 75% processed corn replacement showed the most significant improvements across all parameters compared to the other levels.
Conclusion
Overal, corn processing had a beneficial effect on growth performance just at certain stages of the growing period, and replacing 75% unprocessed corn with processed corn showed better results than other replacements.
All authors contributed equally to the conceptualization, investigation and analysis of the article and writing of the original and subsequent drafts and approved the final version for submission.
This article contains all the data that were created or evaluated during the research and data available on request from the authors.
The authors would like to thank all participants of the present study.
The study was approved by the Animal Science Research Institute of Iran, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO). The authors avoided data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism and misconduct.
The author declares no conflict of interest.
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