Nutritional value of raw and extruded chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) for growing chickens

The effects of the inclusion of different concentrations (0, 100, 200 and 300 g kg(-1)) of raw and extruded chickpeas on performance, digestive organ sizes, and protein and fat digestibilities were studied in one experiment with growing broiler chickens (0 to 21 days of age). Data were analyzed as a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement with three levels of chickpea with or without extrusion. A corn-soybean based diet was used as a positive control. Increasing chickpea content in the diet did not affect weight gain, feed consumption and feed to gain ratio. Relative pancreas and liver weights, and relative lengths of duodenum, jejunum and ceca were significantly (P<0.05) increased in response to increasing chickpea concentration in the diet. The inclusion of graded concentrations of chickpea increased (P<0.05) the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of crude protein (CP) and apparent excreta digestibility (AED) of crude fat (CF) only in the case of the intermediate level of chickpea used (200 g kg(-1)). Extrusion improved weight gain and lowered relative pancreas weight (P<0.05) respect to birds fed raw chickpea-based diets. AID of CP and AED of CF were improved (P<0.001) by extrusion. We concluded that the inclusion of up to 300 g kg(-1) chickpea in chicken diets did not affect performance, and caused a negative effect on the relative weight of some digestive organs.