Effect of CreAMINO® in energy-reduced broilers diets – results from Russia

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Conclusions

The supplementation of CreAMINO^® (600 g/t) to an energy-reduced diet (–50 kcal/kg) enabled broilers to perform, at least, at the level of control group for all parameters investigated, whereas the performance of the negative control without CreAMINO® supplementation dropped significantly.
The use of CreAMINO® in energy-reduced feed gave an economic benefit of about 1.50 EUR/t based on the trial conditions.

Introduction

Feed cost contributes about 70% to the cost of broiler production. Within this cost position the share of cost related to feed energy amounts to about 50%. Thus, only feed energy covers about one third of the entire cost of broiler production. Therefore, any measure to reduce energy-related cost without loosing performance may considerably increase the revenue of broiler production enterprises.

CreAMINO^®, a precursor of creatine, has repeatedly been proven to be able to compensate a certain reduction of feed energy, usually about 50 kcal/kg feed, still achieving the same live, and slaughter performance. CreAMINO®’s positive impact on the energy metabolism is considered the reason for these consistent findings.

Thus, the objective of this study was to check whether CreAMINO® supplementation can compensate a reduced energy content (–50 kcal/kg feed) in broiler diets commonly fed in Russia. The trial was conducted in the vivarium of the FSUE Zagorskoye Experimental and Industrial Enterprise of ARSRTIPK of the Russian Agricultural Sciences Academy in Sergiev Posad, Moscow region.

Experimental procedure

Cobb 500 broilers, kept in groups of 25 birds in UV-S 630A batteries (Big Dutchman), were used in a 36-day trial period. 450 day-old chickens were randomly distributed into three groups, the control and two trial groups, each consisting of six replicates. Birds were fed a mashed complete feed ad libitum. The trial was split in 3 feeding phases: starter – 1 to 14 days, grower – 15 to 21 days, and finisher – 22 to 36 days. Treatment 1 (control diet) was calculated according to Evonik recommendations (2012) with the following energy levels: Starter – 3,025 kcal/kg, Grower – 3,100 kcal/kg, and Finisher – 3,150 kcal/kg. Within the two trial groups energy content was reduced by 50 kcal/kg across all phases. Treatment 2 (negative control) was not supplemented with CreAMINO®, whereas the feed of treatment 3 contained 600 g CreAMINO®/t.

Feed intake (FI), and weight gain were recorded at the end of each phase. Feed conversion ratio (FCR), and average daily gain (ADG) were calculated according to the feeding phases. Parameters of carcass quality were separately estimated in 18 male, and 18 female birds per treatment at the end of the trial. Statistics were run using ANOVA procedure of R software.

Results and discussion

Nutritional parameters in the feed actually fed to the animals are crucial for the outcome of this kind of investigations. Tables 1a to 1c compare calculated and analysed values for selected feed parameters. Regarding energy reduction it has clearly to be stated that it was actually not achieved in starter feed due to the decrease of energy in control feed (Table 1a). But within grower, and particularly in finisher feed the energy level in treatments 2, and 3 were lower than in treatment 1 (Table 1b, and 1c). Levels of amino acids across the treatments matched feed calculation, and were found to be on a comparable level.

Thus, the intended trial design was confirmed by analysis.

Effect of CreAMINO® in energy-reduced broilers diets – results from Russia - Image 1

Effect of CreAMINO® in energy-reduced broilers diets – results from Russia - Image 2

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Table 2 displays the parameters of live performance. Feed intake was not really impacted by the energy reduction. The birds of treatment 1 ate 2,998 g/bird during the trial period, whereas the animals in treatment 2 had ten g less. In treatment 3 feed intake amounted to only 2,957 g/bird, which was significantly lower compared to the other groups.

Besides this, two general findings are obvious. First, energy reduction in treatment 2 resulted in less performance for all investigation parameters (p<0.001). And second, CreAMINO® supplementation to the feed (treatment 3) enabled the birds to compensate lower energy levels, and to perform as good as the control group (treatment 1). Partially, CreAMINO®- supplemented birds exceeded the performance of the control group significantly (p<0.001).

Final body weight of the groups, as well as that of males, and females went down in treatment 2, but the birds of treatment 3 performed even better than the control group. The same hold true for FCR. The control group achieved a feed conversion of 1.630 kg/kg, whereas energy reduction in treatment 2 significantly increased FCR to a level of 1.669 kg/kg. CreAMINO® supplementation in treatment 3 brought FCR down to 1.581 kg/kg, being significantly lower than that of control group. Regarding slaughter performance, also shown in Table 2, the lower energy level of treatment 2 impacted on the weight of carcass, and breast meat. Within this group all investigated parameters showed significantly lower values. Adding CreAMINO® to the feed enabled male broilers to perform on the level of the control group, whereas the females achieved even higher carcass, and breast weights.

These findings proved once again that CreAMINO® supplementation to an energy-reduced feed enables the birds to compensate the negative effects of this energy gap without any drop in performance.

This makes it worth to take a closer look to the economics of this feeding strategy. Considering the raw material price situation in the first half of 2015 the feed formulations used within the trial including the supplementation of CreAMINO® amounted to: 368.20 EUR/t in starter feed, 335.49 EUR/t in grower feed, and 324.04 EUR/t in finisher, respectively. The 50 kcal/kg-energy reduction was basically accomplished by exchanging about eight to nine kg of sunflower oil with the respective amount of wheat. This resulted in about 6.00 EUR/t less feed cost across all phases. Supplementing CreAMINO®, at a price level of 7.50 EUR/kg and an inclusion rate of 600 g per t of feed, contributed 4.50 EUR/t feed.

Thus, on average 1.47 EUR/t of feed across all phases could be saved achieving, at least, the same live, and slaughter performance. This calculation does not include the finding of lowered FCR observed for treatment 3 compared to control group. This may contribute additional savings of 0.05 EUR/t due to less feed usage.

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Effect of CreAMINO® in energy-reduced broilers diets – results from Russia