USE OF A CAPSICUM BASED ADDITIVE IMPROVED PERFORMANCE OF BROILERS FED DIETS CONTAINING ANIMAL FAT

A previous study showed that the use of a capsicum oleoresin based additive (Luctarom Convert – LOM) was able to improve dietary fat digestibility in broilers. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of LOM on growth performance of broiler chickens fed diets differing on its fat source. A total of 1408 Ross 308 1 d-old sexed broilers (50% males + 50% females) were used until 38 d of age. The experiment was set up as a randomized complete block design with a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial arrangement: 2 sexes (males and females), 2 fat sources (soybean oil–SB and animal fat–AF), and without or with LOM (500 ppm from 0-21 d and 250 ppm from 22-38 d). Each combination of factors had 4 replicates of 44 birds/pen. Basal diets differing in fat source were formulated to provide the same nutrient contents (3100-3150 Kcal/kg, 1.1-1.0% dLys and 0.5-0.45% dMet from 0-21 d and 22-39 d, respectively). Body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and mortality wer e recorded a t 21 and 38 d of age. Data were subjected to ANOVA. From 0-21 d, males showed significant higher ADG and FI, and lower FCR than females. The use of AF increased FI in comparison with SB (59.4 vs. 58.3 g/d; P<0.01). Supplementation of LOM increased ADG (43.9 vs. 42.8 g/d; P<0.01), and decreased FCR on average (1.34 vs. 1.37). From 22-38 d and overall, the effect of sex and fat type confirmed the observations of the first period. In addition, a significant interaction between LOM and sex was observed (P<0.05) for FI. LOM increased FI (P<0.05) but only with males receiving AF diet. In conclusion, the use of LOM showed positive effects in terms of ADG and FCR during the first three weeks of the growing period.