Variation in the chemical composition and the nutritive quality of different field bean UK-grown cultivar samples for broiler chicks

ABSTRACT

1. The chemical composition and physical characteristics of 10 different UK-grown field bean cultivar samples from the same harvest year were determined.

2. Diets included each bean sample at a level of 200 g/kg, and were used to compare broiler growth performance and determine N-corrected apparent metabolisable energy (AMEn) and nutrient utilisation. The AMEn and nutrient retention coefficients for the bean samples were obtained via the slope-ratio method. The relationships were examined between variation in nutritive value for broilers and the laboratory analysis of the bean samples.

3. The data showed significant differences (P < 0.05) among the bean cultivar samples for feed conversion ratio, AMEn and dry matter retention (DMR) coefficients. Further analysis showed that the feeding quality of different field bean cultivar samples, measured as AMEn, was highly correlated to crude protein (CP) (P < 0.05) and colour (P < 0.001) of the samples. Thus, beans with higher CP and pale colour had superior feeding value for broilers.

KEYWORDS:

• broilers
• field beans
• nutrient availability
• metabolisable energy
• chemical composition

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Richard James and Ros Crocker for their technical support. Thanks also to Askew & Barrett (Pulses) Ltd., who donated the field bean samples for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This experiment is a part of a PhD project funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research – Kurdistan Regional Government – Iraq.