The use of mustard meal as a protein source in broiler diets
Suchon Tangtaweewipat, Boonlom Cheva-Isarakul and Piched Sangsrijun
pp. 23 - 30
Abstract
Mustard meal (MM) from an essential oil extraction plant was dried under the sun or in a gas-heated pan. Its crude protein, ether extract and fiber contents on dry matter (DM) basis were 30-32, 19-22 and 12- 13%, respectively. The metabolizable energy values of the sun dried and the gas dried meals were 2.89 and 2.44 kcal/g DM, respectively. The meal obtained from either the sun or the gas drying process was incorporated into broiler diets at 0, 10, 20 or 30% through the whole 6 weeks of experimental period. It was found that body weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency decreased with the increasing levels of MM. The overall performance indicated that MM could be incorporated in broiler diet at 10% during 2-7 weeks of age without any adverse effects. Since older chicks can tolerate higher level of fiber and toxic substances from MM, the incorporation of MM to the diet fed only during week 7 can be up to 20%, which is corresponding to the substitution of 62% soybean meal. No significant differences among groups on carcass quality (i.e. dressing percentage and the weight of liver, pancreas and abdominal fat) were observed. However, the thyroid gland was found to enlarge with the increasing levels of MM.
