Effect of dietary replacement of soybean meal with faba beans (Vicia faba L.) on the performance of broilers

This study was conducted to assess the effect of replacement of soybean meal with faba beans (Viciafaba L.) on the performance of broilers. One hundred twenty, one-day old, commercial broiler chicks were randomly distributed into three treatment groups having four replicates and each replicate had ten birds. A standard soybean-maize based basal ration was formulated and fed to the chicks for a period of six weeks in three different growth phases i.e. pre starter (0–7 d), starter (8–21 d) and finisher (22–42 d). The first group was kept as a control (T1) and was given the basal diet while 25 and 50% of soybean meal protein was replaced with faba beans protein in the second (T2) and third (T3) treatment group, respectively. The body weight gain and feed intake were recorded weekly. A metabolism trial was conducted at the end of the experiment. The body weight gain and feed intake amongst different dietary treatments did not vary significantly. Feed conversion ratio and metabolizability of nutrients viz., gross energy,nitrogen and dry matter did not vary significantly amongst different treatment groups. No statistical difference was observed amongst treatment groups with respect to the dressed weight, eviscerated weight, drawn weight, giblets weight and abdominal fat of the carcasses of broiler birds. Findings of this study revealed that 50% replacement of soybean meal with faba beans was economically better without affecting the growth performance and nutrient metabolizability of broiler chicken.