Efficacy of Wheat Based vs. Corn Based Diet Formulated Based on Digestible Amino Acid Method on Performances, Carcass Traits, Blood Parameters, Immunity Response, Jejunum Histomorphology, Cecal Microflora and Excreta Moisture in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate efficacyof wheat based <em>vs</em>. corn based diets on growth performance, carcass traits,blood parameters, jejunum morphological development, immunity, cecal microflora and excreta moisture in broiler chicks fed according to digestible essential amino acid profile. One hundred forty day old Ross 308 male broiler chicks randomly distributed into ten separated floor pensbased on a completely randomised design. Each treatment consisted of five replicates with fourteen birds each.Body weight (BW), body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), immunity and excreta moisture were determined at different periods of ages. At the day 44, five birds of each group were sacrificed to evaluated carcass traits, jejunum histomorphology and cecal microflora. Blood parameters, mortality rate (MR) and European production efficiency factor (EPEF) were measured and determined at day 42 of age, respectively. The results of this study showed that BW, BWG, FI, FCR, MR and EPEF were not significantly different between two groups on the day 42 of age, but BW, BWG and FI were significantly higher (P<0.05) in corn based than wheat based diets on starter phase of feeding and also FI and FCR on the growing phase. Most ofcarcass traits were not significantly different(P>0.05) between two groups except for abdominal fat (AF) percentage which was significantly higher (P<0.05) in corn-based diet. Despite a reduction of triglyceride, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) concentration in the serum of broilers fed thewheat base diet, there were no statistically significant differences between two groups (P>0.05). Humeral immunity response, Newcastle titer, jejunum histomorphology, cecal microflora and excreta moisture were not significantly different (P>0.05) between two groups. In conclusion, wheat based diet is as efficient as corn based diet when diets are formulated based on digestible amino acids method.