Replacing soybean meal by yeast sugar cane in broiler-chicken diets

Abstract

This research aimed to evaluate the effects of substituting the protein from soybean meal (SM) by yeast sugar cane (YSC) in broiler-chicken diets containing cashew nut meal (CNM). A total of 325 male chicks at one day old, were distributed completely randomly among five feeds with five replications of thirteen birds each. We tested five diets containing 20% CNM each and the levels of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% protein replacement of SM by YSC. According to regression analysis, there was a quadratic effect on feed intake and feed conversion by the protein replacement of SM by the YSC, and a linear effect on weight gain in the initial phase (1-21 days). However, substitution at levels up to 20% did not significantly impair performance at any of the different stages, and did not affect the carcass characteristics when compared to the control group. According to the economic study, the protein replacement of SM by YSC proved feasible up to 20%. It can be concluded that, for broiler-chicken diets containing 20% CNM, the SM protein can be replaced up to 20% YSC.