Total replacement of corn by sorghum and slaughterhouse poultry oil in broiler diets

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of total replacement of corn by sorghum and crecent levels of slaugherhouse poultry oil (PO) on performance and carcass characteristics and yield of broilers. A total of 260 chicks one day-old, males, Cobb strain, was allotted to the following treatments: a corn based reference ration, and four sorghum based diets with the inclusion levels of 0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5% of PO according to the growing phases (from 1 to 7 days, 8 to 21 days, 22 to 33 days and 34 to 42 days). The experimental desing was in radomized blocks, with two blocks, where the parameter for blocks was the sense of the hangar, two replicates per block, with 13 birds per pen and five treatments. The inclusion of PO in the sorghum based diet linearly increased feed intake (FI), except during the first phase, and showed a linear effect on weight gain, that increased in the phases from 1 to 7 days, 22 to 33 days, and 1 to 42 days. Feed conversion (FC) and viability did not showed differences in the studied phases. The absolute weight at slaughter broilers lineally increased with the addition PO in the diet. The weights and yield hot carcass, cold carcass, freezing 24 hours carcass, prime cuts, edible visceras, abdominal fat was not influenced by the diets. Carcass pigmentation did not show difference by the addition of PO in the sorghum based diet. The sorghum could totally replacement corn, from the day 8, because did not negatively affect performance and carcass yield. The addition of up to 7.5% of PO in the sorghum based diet provide carcass production with yield similar to those fed corn soybean meal based diets, but the addition of pigments is important.