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Abstract
1. A 35 d feeding trial with 480 d-old male broiler chickens (Cobb) was conducted to evaluate the effects of graded levels of inulin (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 g/kg diet) in a maize-soybean meal based diet on growth performance, AMEN and apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of crude protein, amino acids, starch, crude fat and fatty acids. A commercial product (Inulina 95®) containing 914⋅0 g/kg of inulin and a degree of polymerisation (DP) ranging from DP 1–10 to DP 51–60 was used.
2. The performance of birds (feed intake, BW gain and feed to gain ratio) was not affected by the different dietary inclusions of inulin.
3. Dietary inulin significantly improved the AID coefficient of crude protein and crude fat. Also, there was a significant effect of inulin on the digestibility of most amino acids (10 out of 15) and major fatty acids (oleic and linoleic acids). The AID coefficient of starch and the AMEN content of diets were not affected by inulin inclusion.
4. In conclusion, the current study showed that inulin supplementation improved the digestibility of protein and fat in a maize-soybean meal based diet, but had no effect on the performance of broiler chickens.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by Grant AGL 2006–05274 from the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología, Spain. The authors thank Qualivet (Las Rozas, Madrid, Spain) for supplying the commercial inulin product used in the current study.