The present investigation was aimed to evaluate the effect of varied amount of earthworm meal (EW) and vermihumus (VH) on the growth performance of broiler chickens. Three hundred 1-d-old broiler chickens were assigned to 5 starter treatments with 5 pens per treatment, and 12 broiler chickens per pen in a completely randomized design from d 0–14 of the study. Dietary treatments were [per kilogram dry matter (DM)]: control (0 g EW and 0 g VH/kg of DM), and the diets containing 10 g VH/kg of DM supplemented with 0, 10, 20, or 30 g EW/kg of DM. At the end of the study (d 42), one representative broiler chicken per pen, close to the average body weight, was selected for blood sampling using a sterile needle and heparinized vacuum tube. The outcomes of the study depicted the greater overall feed intake value in broiler chicken fed the control diet than those fed the diets containing VH or EW or both, and it decreased linearly and quadratically (P 0.05). Similarly, the meat quality of broiler chicken was markedly affected linearly (P < 0.05) by the supplementation of increased dietary EW. Briefly, diets containing 30 g EW/kg of DM can positively affect the growth performance of broiler chickens and produce meat with better characteristics.

We are grateful to the Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj Branch, Sanandaj, Iran for the financial and technical supports, and financial supports of Amize Tabiat Co (Iran) is also gratefully acknowledged.

8 páginas, 8 tablas.

Peer reviewed