USE OF SESAME (SESAMUM INDICUM L.) COPRODUCTS FROM THE SEMI-ARID REGION OF NORTHEAST BRAZIL IN DIETS FOR BROILERS
alternative food, antibiotic, sesame oil, chicks, sesame cake
This study evaluated sesame cake and sesame oil as alternatives to the conventional protein source and growth promoter, respectively. The metabolizable energy of the ingredients was determined, and the productive performance, energy and nutrient metabolizability of the diets, carcass quality and blood variables were observed. In addition, the antimicrobial activity of sesame oil was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. The research was divided into three stages: a metabolism assay to determine the metabolizable energy of the co-products and two productive performance experiments, where each one evaluated a co-product. For the metabolism study, 90 male broiler chicks of the Ross 308 line, aged 14 to 23 days, were used, which were distributed completely randomly with 3 treatments and 6 replicates of 5 birds each. The diets consisted of a reference diet based on corn and soybean meal and two test diets, one containing 30% sesame cake + 70% of the control diet and the other containing 8% sesame oil + 92% of the control diet. The sesame cake presented apparent metabolizable energy (AME) values of 4789 kcal/kg and apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen balance (AMEn) of 4342 kcal/kg. The crude sesame oil presented AME and AMEn values of 8163 and 7907 kcal/kg, respectively, on a dry matter basis. Subsequently, two productive performance experiments were conducted to evaluate the cake and sesame oil. For the experiment with the sesame cake, 240 male Ross 308 broilers, 1 day old, were used. The animals were randomly distributed into 4 treatments of 5 replicates with 12 birds each. The treatments consisted of 4 levels of sesame cake inclusion (0, 50, 100 and 150 g/kg). The cake brought positive results for performance, immunity and economic return, so the co-product can be used at concentrations of 50 g/kg in the initial phases and 150 g/kg in the growth and final phases. As for the research with sesame oil, 300 male Ross 308 chickens, 1 day old, were randomly distributed into 5 treatments of 5 replicates with 12 birds each. The treatments consisted of a diet based on corn and soybean meal free of growth promoter additive, the second diet was the basal diet with the additive zinc bacitracin at 0.50 g/kg and the other diets free of the growth promoter additive, but using sesame oil at levels of 3.3, 6.6 and 9.9 g/kg. The inclusion of 6.6 g/kg of sesame oil in the diet of chickens improved performance, nutrient metabolism and reduced the E. coli count, being the best level to replace zinc bacitracin. In general, it is concluded that both the cake and sesame oil can be used as promising alternatives for feeding broilers, improving performance, intestinal health and providing greater economic return when used in properties that raise chickens and cultivate sesame seeds.