Effects of chitosan on growth performance and energy and protein utilisation in broiler chickens

1. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of dietary chitosan on growth performance, energy availability and protein retention in broilers. 2. Experiment 1 was a 42-d growth assay, in which 294 1-d-old male broilers were given one of 7 dietary treatments. A control feed was supplemented with 5 levels of chitosan (0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 g/kg) or 50 mg/kg chlortetracycline (CTC). 3. Increasing chitosan inclusion gave a nonlinear increase ( P< 0.001) in feed conversion efficiency (FCE). Optimal growth and feed conversion were obtained with 0.5 - 1.0 g/ kg chitosan. 4. In experiment 2, 42 1-d-old male broilers (6/treatment) were individually housed but fed on the same diets as in experiment 1. Excreta were collected from d 19 - 21 and d 40 - 42. 5. The addition of 0.5 - 1.0 g/ kg chitosan increased nitrogen retention compared with the control group ( P< 0.01), while apparent metabolisable energy in the diets was not altered.