Short communicationThe effect of different blue lupine (L. angustifolius) inclusion levels on gastrointestinal function, growth performance and meat quality in growing-finishing turkeys
Introduction
Due to increased demand for high-protein feed components and high prices of soybean meal (SBM) in the European Union, recent years have witnessed a growing interest in alternative protein sources in poultry diets (Nalle et al., 2011, Smulikowska et al., 2014, Zdunczyk et al., 2014). Seeds of modern sweet lupine varieties are characterised by low alkaloid concentrations (Jezierny et al., 2011) and relatively high amino acid digestibility in chickens and turkeys (Nalle et al., 2011, Kozlowski et al., 2011). Today, the major factor limiting the use of lupine seeds in poultry diets is their too high content of non-starch-polysaccharides (NSPs; up to 400 g/kg) and α-galactosides known for their anti-nutritional effects. Elevated levels of the above carbohydrate fractions in chicken and turkey diets may stimulate the proliferation and activity of gut microbiota (Zdunczyk et al., 2013), increase the viscosity of intestinal digesta and impair gut function including food passage rate and nutrient utilization (Kocher et al., 2000).
Recent research has shown that broiler chickens can tolerate 150 g/kg (Smulikowska et al., 2014) or even 200 g sweet blue lupine/kg feed (Nalle et al., 2011) with no adverse effects on their growth performance. In contrast to chickens, little is known about the effectiveness of lupine seeds in turkey nutrition (Halvorson et al., 1988, Palander et al., 2006), in particular about their influence on gastrointestinal (GIT) function and meat quality. In view of the above, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of diets in which SBM was replaced with blue lupine seed meal (BLM) on the physiological response of the GIT system, growth performance, carcass traits and meat quality in growing-finishing turkeys (from 13 to 18 weeks of age).
Section snippets
Birds, management and diets
All procedures involving animals were approved by the Local Animal Care and Use Committee (Olsztyn, Poland). The experiment was conducted at the Animal Research Laboratory in accordance with EU Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes (OJEU, 2010).
A total of 784 male Big-7 turkeys aged 12 weeks, with average BW of 10.64 ± 0.29 kg, were placed in pens on litter (wood shavings) and assigned to four dietary treatments. Each experimental group comprised of 196
Results
A BLM sample contained a low level of alkaloids (390 mg/kg DM), and moderate levels of protein (313 g/kg vs. 506 in SBM) and fat (57 g/kg vs. 28 in SBM). The concentrations of structural carbohydrates, determined as crude fibre and NSPs, were 167 g/kg and 406 g/kg, respectively (vs. 38.2 g/kg and 140 g/kg, respectively in SBM). Stachyose was the main raffinose family oligosaccharide (RFO), and RFO content was 79.9 g/kg (vs. 59.1 g/kg in SBM). Arginine content was high in BLM (96.3 g/kg CP vs. 71.4 in
Discussion
The inclusion of 200 g of narrow-leaved lupine seeds/kg in starter diets for broiler chickens may considerably increase ileal viscosity (5.5 mPa s) and negatively affect their growth performance (Steenfeldt et al., 2003), which is probably the reason why Smulikowska et al. (2014) do not recommend feeding blue lupine seeds to broiler chickens younger than 3 weeks.
In the current study, BLM added at 180 g/kg to diets for older birds did not impair upper GIT function or fermentation processes in the
Conclusions
It can be concluded that seeds of modern blue lupine varieties can be included at 180 g/kg in growing/finishing diets for turkeys as an effective substitute for SBM without compromising bird performance, carcass composition and meat quality.
Acknowledgements
The study was supported by the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development under the “Improvement of native plant protein feeds, their production, trade turnover and utilization in animal feed mixtures” programme.
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