Strategies to include sweet potato meal associated with the use of exogenous enzymes, in broiler chicken feed

Abstract

SUMMARY This work evaluated the effect of including sweet potato meal (SPM), as an alternative to corn in broiler chicken diets, on performance, carcass yield, intestinal morphometry, organ biometry, meat quality and drumstick pigmentation. The study used 936 male Cobb-500 chicks. The experiment had a completely randomized, 3x2 factorial design, with three diet types. These included corn as the energetic ingredient in the standard diet (corn-soybean meal, CSM), and an increasing (ISP) and decreasing (DSP) inclusion of sweet potato meal as a corn substitute, in association with exogenous enzymes, for a total of six treatments with six repetitions and 26 birds per plot. During the period of 1 to 21 days, there was an interaction (P<0.05) for the weight gain (WG) variable; the CSM diets promoted greater WG in relation to the ISP and DSP groups, when supplemented with exogenous enzymes. There was an increase (P<0.05) in surface absorption of the jejunum villi and relative weight of the pancreas, and worse feed conversion (FC), for the ISP and DSP diets. With exception of the pancreas, for the entire period of 1 to 39 days the performance, yield of the carcass and cuts, meat quality, relative weight of the liver, and feet pigmentation variables were not affected (P>0.05) by the factors evaluated. Sweet potato meal, independent of the inclusion program (ISP/DSP) and enzyme supplementation, could partially substitute corn in broiler chicken feed, guaranteeing good performance, carcass yield and meat quality.