Replacing soybean meal with sunflower meal with or without fibrolytic enzymes in fattening diets of goat kids

Nutritional value of sunflower meal (SFM) as a replacement protein source of soybean meal (SBM) for goat kids was evaluated. Thirty-six weaned Shami goat kids were randomly selected and used in a complete randomize design (CRD) trial with three treatments. Kids were divided into three groups of equal number and allocated into pens of similar size and condition. For each group, kids were fed one of three diets containing SBM, SFM, or SFM supplemented with fibrolytic cellulases enzyme (sunflower meal with enzyme, SFME). The experiment lasted 12 weeks. Total gain and average daily gain were higher (P < 0.05) for kids fed SFME with no differences obtained between SBM and SFM. Daily gain values averaged 221.7, 155.8, and 141.6 g for the three experiments, respectively. SFME group had the highest (P < 0.05) feed intake value. At the same time, SFM and SBM group were not different (P > 0.05) with higher value for the former. Same results were obtained for the feed conversion ratio (FCR) where SFME kids had the highest (P <0.05) FCR value of 4.7. No difference was observed for SBM in feed conversion ratio value (6.6) compared to that of the SFM (7.59). It is concluded that sunflower meal can successfully replace soybean meal as a protein source in fattening diets. Moreover, fibrolytic enzymes can be effectively used to enhance the feeding value of the SFM and overcome its high fiber content. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.