• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.221-232
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• 2005

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of replacing fish meal or soybean meal with feather meal or bromelain treated feather meal in broiler diets on the performances and nutrient utilization. Two hundred and twenty-five broilers were randomly allotted to five dietary treatrnents((1) control, basal diet; (2) PFM 50, 50 % of the fish meal replaced with bromelain treated feather meal; (3) PFM 100, 100% of the fish meal replaced with bromelain treated feather meal; (4) PSM 20, 20 % of the soybean meal replaced with bromelain treated feather meal; and (5) PSM 40, 40% of the soybean meal replaced with bromelain treated feather meal) in a 5-week feeding trial. In the overall period, body weight gain of the PFM 50(1,807 g), PSM 20(1,816 g) and PSM 40(1,823 g) were the highest and that of the PFM 100 was 1,744 g. The body weight gain of the control(1,698 g) was the lowest(p < 0.05) among treatments. Feed conversion was significantly(p< 0.05) improved when bromelain treated feather meal replaced 20% of the fish meal in the basal diet. Digestibilities of dry matter, ether extract, organic matter and phosphorus were not different among the treatments. Digestibility of crude protein of PFM 50(65.87 %), PSM 20(67.18 %) and PSM 40(67.56%) were the highest, and that of the control(54.49%) was the lowest(p < 0.05) among treatments. Arrunonia and hydrogen sulfide gases from the feces were significantly(p < 0.05) decreased in chicks fed the PFM 50, PSM 20 and GFM 40 diets, when observed after 3 weeks of feeding trials. Feed costs of the control and PFM 50 were 604 and 629 won, respectively but that of PSM 50 was 820 won. Therefore, replacement of fish meal with bromelain treated feather meal in the diets for chicks could be useful for economic production.