Further studies on the use of solar-dried blood meal as a feed ingredient for poultry

Two studies, using broilers and laying hens, were conducted to further determine the nutritive value of solar-dried blood meal (SDBM). In experiment 1, diets containing 0, 30, 60 and 90 g SDBM kg(-1) were fed ad libitum to 240 two-week-old broiler chickens for a period of 6 weeks. The level of SDBM had no significant effect on feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion efficiency, carcass yield, or mortality. In experiment 2, 144 brown egg layers of 26 weeks of age randomly allotted into four groups were fed diets containing 0, 15, 30 and 45 g SDBM kg(-1) for 20 weeks. The inclusion of graded levels of SDBM in layer diets positively influenced feed intake (r=0.95; P<0.05), body weight gain, egg weight, yolk colour, and Haugh unit score. Hen-day egg production and feed conversion efficiency were, however, unaffected. There were neither health-related problems nor deaths associated with the amount of SDBM in the diet. It is concluded that dietary SDBM up to 45g kg(-1) had a positive effect on layer performance and that in broiler diets, partial replacement of other protein sources (fish meal and copra cake) with SDBM is possible.