Two trials were carried out to evaluate the effects of feeding of increasing defatted corn germ meal (DCGM) levels to broilers. In the first trial, for determination of nutritional value by method of total excreta collection, 120 19-day old broilers were allotted to a completely randomized design with three treatments and four replications of 10 birds each. The treatments consisted of corn and soybean meal-based diets with increasing DCGM levels: 0, 20, and 40%. Mean values of coefficients of metabolization of DM, CF, CP, EE, and metabolizable energy adjusted for nitrogen balance were (as-fed basis): 60.99%, 16.73%, 53.80%, 82.71%, and 2413 kcal/kg, respectively. In the performance trial, 480 4-day old chicks were assigned to a completely randomized design with five treatments and eight replications (four of each sex) of 12 birds. The treatments consisted of corn and soybean meal-based diets with increasing DCGM levels: 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20%. Linear increasing effect of DCGM on weight gain and feed intake and decreasing linear effect on feed:gain ratio were observed. Feeding DCGM is viable up to 20% level to broiler performance with no changes on carcass traits.
food; metabolizable energy; nutrition; performance; broiler
