Effect of DL-methionine supplementation and high tannin red sorghum feeding on nutrient utilization and blood biochemical profile of broilers Kumar Vinod1, Elangovan A.V., Mandal Asit B., Tyagi Praveen K., Bhanja S.K., Dash B. B. Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Pasu Chikitsa Vigyan Vishwavidyalaya Evam Go-Anusandhan Sansthan, Mathura-281001, Uttar Pradesh, India 1Corresponding author-Email: vinodsidhu@gmail.com
Abstract An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of methionine supplementation on the utilization of red sorghum (RS, 2.3% tannin) in the diets of coloured broiler chickens. Day-old chicks (n=360) were randomly divided into 36 groups of 10 chicks each, and 9 dietary treatments were replicated to 4 groups in a completely randomized design. The dietary treatments were; corn-soy-based control diet (D1) and the diets consisted of four levels (25, 50, 75 and 100% part of maize) of red sorghum (RS-RS) or 25 100 respective levels of red sorghum supplemented with methionine (0.04, 0.08, 0.12 and 0.16% in RS25Met-RS100Met, respectively). All the diets were iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric (2800 kcal ME/kg) with similar lysine (1.14 and 1%) and methionine (0.45 and 0.40%) during 0–3 wk and 4–6 wk of age, respectively. The nutrient utilization was similar in all the dietary groups. The footpad index of birds fed red sorghum was higher (P<0.01) than the control group. Similarly, humoral response was better in red sorghum groups than those supplemented with methionine. The blood biochemical profile was not affected by the dietary treatments. Mild histopathological changes were observed in liver and kidney tissues of red sorghum without methionine supplementation. It may be concluded that red sorghum based diet may enhance humoral and cell mediated immune response and addition of methionine can alleviate toxic affect of dietary tannins in broilers and addition of fat in red sorghum based diet at high replacement level of maize improved nutrients utilization. Top Keywords Blood profile, Broilers, Red sorghum, Tannin, DL-methionine, Immunity. Top |