RESPONSE OF THE CAECAL MICROFLORA OF TURKEYS FED DIETS WITH A DIFFERENT CONTENT OF HIGH-FIBRE SUNFLOWER MEAL

The effect of different dietary content of sunflower meal (SFM; 0, 7, 14 and 21%) on fermentation processes and caecal microflora in 8-week-old male turkeys was investigated. All diets were isonitrogenous and isocaloric, but they differed substantially with regard to crude fibre content (2.92%, 4.18%, 4.72% and 5.56% on average in groups SFM0, SFM7, SFM14, and SFM27, respectively). After 8 weeks of feeding, with increasing levels of SFM a linear decrease (P<0.05) was observed in feed intake and final body weight of turkeys. The dietary inclusion of SFM14 and SFM21 caused a significant decrease in caecal relative tissue mass, caecal digests' weight and the rate of bacterial production of SCFA in the caeca, as compared with the control and SFM7 groups. The highest activity of bacterial alpha-glucosidase, alpha-galactosidase and beta-galactosidase was noted in the SFM7 group. In comparison with the soybean meal-based diets, the counts of Escherichia and Bacteroides-Prevotella significantly increased in the SFM21 treatment. The results of this study demonstrate that turkey diets can be effectively supplemented with high-quality sunflower meal sit a concentration of approximately 70 g/kg. High-fibre sunflower meal added at a level of 21% to a diet for growing turkeys may cause undesirable changes in the caecal microflora activity and profile as manifested in the potent inhibition of SCFA production and enhanced growth of Bacteroides and Escherichia coli populations. It should be noted, however, that at 8 weeks of age the body weight of turkeys fed diets containing 210 g/kg of SFM could be lower by 6% from those receiving the soybean meal-based diets.