A meta-analysis on the potential utilization of millet, sorghum and cottonseed meal in broiler feeding

A meta-analysis was performed to investigate bird's response on some selected alternative feed ingredients: millet, sorghum and cottonseed meal. The database used contained 186 treatments from 25 different experiments published from 1990 to 2013. A 1-way ANOVA was performed to determine the difference induced by each ingredient on average daily feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio, compared to control diets. Besides, mixed effects models were developed to test the impact of the level of substitution on all parameters during starter and growing phases. Results indicated an effect of the type of feed ingredient on feed intake and growth performance with better efficiency obtained in millet. No linear relationship was established between level of substitution and variables of interest for all ingredients (R²=0). Additionally, the root mean square error (RMSE) determined for each subset of data demonstrated that observations of this study are practically predictable. Therefore, it is in perspective of this work to predict bird's response to those ingredients nutrients supply. This meta-analytic approach provides significant quantitative knowledge to utilize those ingredients at different levels without any detrimental effect in broilers. Regarding the anti-nutritional factors content of some of these ingredients, it would be interesting to further suggest improvements leading to an increasing utilization of these alternative feedstuffs in poultry.