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Abstract
1. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of dietary chitosan on growth performance, energy availability and protein retention in broilers.
2. Experiment 1 was a 42-d growth assay, in which 294 1-d-old male broilers were given one of 7 dietary treatments. A control feed was supplemented with 5 levels of chitosan (0·2, 0·5, 1·0, 3·0 and 5·0 g/kg) or 50 mg/kg chlortetracycline (CTC).
3. Increasing chitosan inclusion gave a nonlinear increase (P < 0·001) in feed conversion efficiency (FCE). Optimal growth and feed conversion were obtained with 0·5–1·0 g/kg chitosan.
4. In experiment 2, 42 1-d-old male broilers (6/treatment) were individually housed but fed on the same diets as in experiment 1. Excreta were collected from d 19–21 and d 40–42.
5. The addition of 0·5–1·0 g/kg chitosan increased nitrogen retention compared with the control group (P < 0·01), while apparent metabolisable energy in the diets was not altered.