Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of feeding 60% untreated (U) or coarsely ground treated vetch (V) seeds on performance of broilers and laying hens. In Experiment 1, the V seeds were soaked in 1% NaHCO3 (1:10) or in 1% acetic acid (1:5) at room temperature for 24 h (RTAA). Birds on the NaHCO3-treated V diet had 100% mortality rate but had significantly longer survival time than those on UV (14.9 vs 5.1 d). Birds on RTAA-V survived and had similar BW and feed conversion but greater kidney size than those of the controls at 7 wk of age (P < 0.05). In Experiment 2, control, UV, V soaked in water at 40 C (40WV), RTAA-V, and V soaked in acetic acid at 40 C (40AAV) diets were fed to laying hens for 84 d. The ground seeds in RTAA-V and 40AAV were soaked in acetic acid (1:10) at room temperature or at 40 C, respectively, for 24 h. For 40WV, the seeds were soaked in water (1:10) at 40 C for 72 h with a water change every 12 h. The UV-fed hens ceased egg production within 14 d and had the highest BW loss and the lowest feed intake among all treatments (P < 0.05). The 40WV and 40AAV significantly improved these criteria. Moreover, the RTAA-V resulted in performance comparable to that of the controls. Eggs produced by hens on treated V diets had similar weight but higher Haugh unit score (11 points), thinner shell, and lower yolk color score than those of the controls (P < 0.05). Results indicated that RTAA-V at 60% dietary level was not detrimental to broilers and laying hens.

In two experiments we evaluated the effect of water and acetic acid soaking on ME, apparent amino acid (AA) availability, and true AA availability of vetch (V) and ervil (E) seeds. In Experiment 1, the feedstuffs were untreated (U) V or coarsely ground V soaked in water (1:10, wt/vol) at 40 C for 72 h with a water change every 12 h (40WV), vetch soaked in 1% acetic acid for 24 h at 40 C (40AAV) or at room temperature (RTAAV), or dehulled soybean meal (SBM). In Experiment 2, E seeds were subjected to the same soaking methods, and the ingredients were UE, 40WE, 40AAE, RTAAE, and SBM. Each feedstuff was precision-fed to five individually caged mature ISA Brown roosters. A group of five roosters was used to correct for metabolic and endogenous energy and amino acid losses. The AME, AMEn, TME, and TMEn of UV and UE (in parentheses) were 2,558 (2,663), 2,840 (3,098), 3,026 (3,154), and 2,934 (3,176) kcal/kg DM, respectively, and were, in general, higher than those of SBM. The TMEn of V increased as a result of soaking in water or acetic acid, whereas that of E decreased in 40WE and RTAAE by 492 and 920 kcal/kg DM, respectively (P < 0.05). The apparent availability of most essential amino acids in UV and UE was lower (P < 0.05) than that of SBM. Acetic acid soaking of V, irrespective of temperature, and E at 40 C resulted in apparent AA availability similar to that of SBM except for Met. The true AA availability of V treated or not, and that of E soaked at 40 C, were similar to that of SBM. Results indicated that UV and UE are energy rich ingredients but detrimental to amino acid availability. Soaking the seeds in acetic acid at room temperature and at 40 C improved the nutritional value of V and E, respectively.

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