Feeding of Low-Fibre Sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) Meal as Substitute of Soybean Meal in Turkey Rations: Effects on Growth Performance and Meat Quality

Soybean meal (SBM) is the most widely and expensive protein source used in the formulation of poultry diets; however, when the price of SBM increases, poultry nutritionists seek alternative sources that are more economical in formulating least-cost rations. This research aimed to evaluate the effects of air classified sunflower meal (SFM) in diets of turkeys on their growth performance, carcass yields and meat quality. A total of 140 1-d-old female turkeys (Nicholas 500) were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments which were fed from hatch to 16 wk. The birds were fed two wheat middlings-based diets comprising of a control diet which contained SBM (145 g/kg) and a test diet containing micronized-air classified SFM (172 g/kg) as the main protein source. The substitution of SBM with sunflower had no adverse effect on growth performance and dressing percentage, improving breast and thigh muscles relative weights of the turkeys. A significant effect was found for feed intake (P<0.05) which was lower in birds fed diet containing sunflower compared to those fed soybean, without however any negative effects on feed efficiency (P<0.05). Meat from turkeys fed the sunflower diet had less cholesterol (P<0.01) and higher concentrations of phospholipids (P<0.01). Our results suggest that replacing the conventional SBM as protein source, with micronized-air classified SFM in diets of turkeys can improve carcass quality and favourable lipid profile without adverse effects on growth traits, reducing also the production costs.