The effect of diets containing different levels of raw and fermented rapeseed meal on production performance and egg shell quality in broiler breeders

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of replacing raw or fermented rapeseed meal with soybean meal on production performance and eggshell quality in broiler breeders. Rapeseed meal was fermented for 30 days with Lactobacillus subtilis and Aspergillus niger, and 140 broiler breeders (Ross 308) in a completely randomized design with a factorial arrangement of 3 × 2, including two types of rapeseed meal (raw and fermented) and three replacement levels with soybean meal (33, 66, and 100%) with a control group (corn-soybean) were performed with 5 replications for 12 weeks (three production stages). Results indicated that pH and glucosinolates values of rapeseed meal decreased significantly after microbial fermentation (P<0.05). Fermented rapeseed meal had no significant effect on body weight, egg weight, egg production percentage, and eggshell quality in comparison with raw rapeseed meal. The effect of replacing meal level on body weight and egg weight was insignificant, but with increasing the level of raw or fermented rapeseed meal in the diet a linear significant decrease was observed in production percentage and eggshell quality (P<0.05). The production percentage was significantly lower in hens fed 100% raw or fermented rapeseed meal compared to the control group (P<0.05). According to the results of this experiment, raw or fermented rapeseed meal at the levels of more than 66% replacement with soybean meal in the diet of broiler breeders negatively affected production performance and eggshell quality.