Growth Performance of Broiler Chickens fed with Crude Glycerin from Large and Medium Scale Biodiesel Producers in Thailand

Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand the effect of crude glycerin from different sources on growth performance of broilers. Crude glycerins were derived from medium (38.36% glycerol and 23.91% crude fat) (CGM) and large (88.49% glycerol and 1.73% crude fat) (CGL) scale Thailand’s biodiesel producers. A number of 180 male Ross-308 day old chicks were randomly allocated into 3 treatments group consisting 4 replication each. One way ANOVA in a completely randomized design with post-hoc tukey was used in this experiment. The treatments diet were: basal diet (T1), diet with 5% CGM inclusion (T2), and diet with 5% CGL inclusion (T3). The growth performances, such as, feed intake, body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were observed every week in 6 weeks rearing period. During 1 to 21 days, broilers received T2 had the highest feed intake and body weight gain, meanwhile, T3 had the lowest feed intake and similar body weight gain to the T1, consequently, T3 had the best FCR. In 22 to 42 days, crude glycerin did not give any effect to the growth performances. Overall result from day 1 to day 42, crude glycerins did not give any significant effect (P > 0.05) to the feed intake, body weight gain, and FCR, however, it tended to give better feed efficiency as it had lower FCR than those received control diet. In conclusion, both crude glycerins did not give any negative effect to the growth performance and it could be applied in the broiler’s diet.