Performance of broilers and layers fed crab meal and other substances for improving utilization of diets containing whey or cellulose

Graduation date: 1986Several experiments involving broilers and laying hens\ud were conducted to study the effects of feeding crab meal,\ud dried whey and cellulose. The positive responses of crab\ud meal as a substance for improving the utilization of dried\ud whey and cellulose were examined. Cellulose treated with\ud concentrated H3PO4 in broiler diets and diets supplemented\ud with zinc bacitracin for both broiler and laying hens were\ud studied. The TME-values of broiler diets were evaluated.\ud Performance effects of broilers which were inoculated with\ud bifidobacteria and fed diets containing crab meal,\ud cellulose and dried whey were also investigated.\ud In broiler experiments, satisfactory performance was\ud obtained when crab meal was used in broiler starter diets\ud at 2, 4 and 8% levels. No adverse effects on growth were\ud observed when chicks were fed a 20% whey diet, however wet\ud droppings were observed. Supplementation with crab meal\ud had no beneficial effect on the utilization of whey.\ud In studies with cellulose, significant depression\ud (P<.05) in growth and feed conversion was associated with\ud the inclusion of 10 and 15% cellulose. However, feed\ud consumption was not affected. The addition of 4% crab meal\ud appears to result in improvement on growth and feed\ud efficiency with the 10% level but not at the 15% level of\ud cellulose. Treatment of cellulose with concentrated H3PO4\ud did not provide a beneficial effect on fiber utilization\ud by chicks. A supplement of zinc bacitracin at 27.5 and 55\ud ppm levels on 4% crab meal, 10% of cellulose, and 4% crab\ud meal plus 10% cellulose-containing diets had positive\ud effects on broiler performance.\ud The TME-value of the control diet was comparable to\ud those of the 4% crab meal diet. The TME-value of the 10%\ud cellulose (SF) was significantly lower (P<.01) than the\ud control. The addition of 4% crab meal failed to increase\ud the TME-value of the 10% cellulose (SF) diet.\ud The performance of broiler chicks inoculated with\ud Bifidobacteria pseudolongum was comparable to those of the\ud uninoculated chicks as compared in the same dietary\ud treatments except the 4% crab meal diet, the inoculated\ud chicks were slightly heavier in weight, but had\ud significantly (P<.05) higher feed consumption and poorer feed efficiency than those of the control chicks.\ud In a laying hen experiment, birds fed the 4% crab meal\ud diet showed satisfactory reproductive performance. Egg\ud production and efficiency of feed utilization were\ud numerically better than those of the control birds.\ud Feeding a 10% shavings diet did not have any adverse\ud effect on hen egg production, external and internal egg\ud quality or body weight. However, a significant increase\ud (P<.05) on feed consumption and feed per dozen eggs were\ud noted that could be accounted for on the basis of diet\ud dilution. Egg yolk cholesterol was not affected as birds\ud fed either 5 or 10% shavings. The addition of crab meal\ud had no beneficial effects on utilization of fiber by\ud laying hens. Diets supplemented with zinc bacitracin did\ud not appear to have a positive effect on reproductive\ud performance of layers