Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

M. SCHAMS-SCHARGH, W. ZOLLITSCH, W. KNAUS and R. LETTNER:

The use of lupins in poultry diets

Summary

The effect of sweet lupins, particularly the variety Amiga, in rations for laying hens and broilers was tested. The effect of the addition of lupins to a layer diet on laying performance, egg composition, egg quality, organoleptic characteristics of the eggs and on the composition of the faeces was the subject of the first experiment. 1000 layers each (around two years of age and in their third laying period) were kept in batteries and separated in a control (group 1) and an experimental group (group 2). The experiment lasted for two months. The ration of the control group was a commercial all mash layer diet. The diet of the experimental group was formulated by replacing apart of the soybean meal and wheat in the ration by 10 % lupins. Due to the significantly higher laying performance of group 2 feed efficiency of group 1 (2.60 kg/kg eggmass) was higher (+0.16 kg/kg eggmass). The percentage of broken eggs was significantly higher and egg shell stability was significantly lower in group 1. There were no significant differences between the eggs of the two groups in organoleptic tests. In the second experiment, the effects of 6, 12 and 18 % lupins in an all mash broiler diet on the fattening performance and carcass characteristics as well as on the meat and fat quality were evaluated. Each of the four groups consisted of five pens (= five replicates) with 65 chickens in each pen. The chickens were kept on deep litter in a controlled climate. The experiment extended over aperiod of 43 days. No significant differences were found regarding fattening performance, percent of fat and percent of valuable carcass parts. Key-words: laying hens, broilers, lupins, egg quality.