Effects of replacement of soybean meal with fermented soybean meal on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass characteristics in broiler

The study's objective was to evaluate the impacts of replacing soybean meal (SBM) with fermented soybean meal (FSBM) in the diet of broilers on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass characteristics. A total of 800 day-old broiler chicks weighing 39  ±  2 g were reared for the trial of 35 days. Chicks were randomly divided into four treatments of 10 replicates, having 20 chicks per replicate. Treatments were basal diet having 0 % FSBM (control group), 2.5 %, 5 % and 7.5 % replacement of SBM with FSBM. Weekly feed intake (FI), body weight gain and mortality were determined and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was also calculated. Ileal nutrient digestibility was determined on days 21 and 35 by using an external marker method. For the evaluation of carcass parameters, two birds from each replicate were randomly slaughtered on 35th day. The results showed that dietary treatments did not affect the FI of birds (P > 0.05). However, the birds fed 2.5 % FSBM-based diet showed better weight gain and decrease in FCR (P < 0.05). Nutrient digestibility (ether extract and crude protein) was significantly enhanced (P < 0.05) by 2.5 % FSBM on day 21st and 35th day (P < 0.05). Similarly, no effect was shown (P > 0.05) by dietary treatments on carcass characteristics on days 21 and 35 of the experiment. In conclusion, replacing 2.5 % of SBM with FSBM in the diet improves growth performance and ileal nutrient digestibility in broilers without affecting FI or carcass characteristics.