COMPARISON OF UTILIZATION OF CELLULOSE AND CORN DIETARY FIBER AS AN ENERGY SOURCE IN CHICKS

An experiment was conducted to investigate effects of fiber source on growth performance, N and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility, and utilization of energy in chicks fed an isocaloric low-energy diet from 7 to 21 days of age. Two fiber sources, cellulose and corn dietary fiber (CDF), were included in a diet at 10, 20 and 30% at the expense of kaolin, an inert diluent. The CDF contained 76.5% NDF consisting mainly of hemicellulose. The results showed that growth performance, N and NDF digestibility, dietary DE and ME values, energy deposition, and NE for production in birds fed CDF were inferior to those in birds fed cellulose. It can be concluded, from the present study, that chicks can utilize cellulose more efficiently than CDF up to a level of 30%.