Effect of Various Combinations of Vegetable Protein Supplements on the Performance of Broilers

A feeding trial of 8-wk involving 1080, one-day old broiler chicks was undertaken to study the associated effect of different vegetable protein sources on their performance. Mustard cake, toasted guar meal and maize gluten meal singly or their combinations at 5 or 10% dietary levels replaced groundnut cake in conventional diet. Toasted guar meal at both the levels either individually or in combination with mustard cake produced the heaviest broilers with better feed conversion ratio. Maize gluten meal did not show any promise at both the levels. However, in combination with either toasted guar meal or mustard cake performed better in comparison to control. The combined effect of all the three protein sources at various dietary levels was not as high as that of the two vegetable protein source combinations. Diets P₂ (10% toasted guar meal), P₉ (10% mustard cake + 5% toasted guar meal), P₁₁ (10% mustard cake +10% toasted guar meal) and P₂₄ (5% mustard cake + 10% toasted guar meal + 5% maize gluten meal) ranked better in terms of overall performance. It can be Inferred that the combination of certain vegetable protein sources in right proportion prove better than a single source of protein in broiler diets.