Utilization of Faba Bean in Broiler Ration and Means of Reducing the Effect of Its Trypsin Inhibitor

A total of adult leghorn roosters and 360 day-old broiler chicks were used in two completely randomized experiment to evaluate metabolizable energy (ME) and feeding value of faba beans in broiler rations. In a factorial arrangement with 10 treatments and 3 replicates chicks were fed isonitrogenous rations containing either 0, 10, 20 or 30 percent of raw, cooked or dehulled faba beans for 8 weeks. Data from sibbald procedure showed cooking had no significant effect on energy value of beans, while dehulled beans had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher energy value. Final body weights at 8th week of age were unaffected due to processing of beans. No significant differences were observed in liver weight, abdominal fat or feed efficiency ratio due to processing and/or percentage of beans in the ration. Raw, whole beans significantly (p < 0.05) increased percentage and weight of pancreas compared to those that had consumed dehulled beans. This indicates that trypsin inhibitor is located in hulls. Cooked beans reduced pancreas size to normal, indicating destruction of inhibitor due to cooking. One interesting point is that the control group which consumed more soybean meal had a pancreas weight of 4.67 grams comparable to 4.83 grams of pancreas weights of chicks consuming raw, whole beans. This last fact indicates that soybean meals might not have received enough heat treatments during processing, which requires further investigation.