Using sunflower meal in waterfowl diets

Three series of experiments were carried out for evaluation extracted sunflower meal as possible protein source in waterfowl nutrition. Growing geese was used for the first, table duck for the second and duck layers for the third series. It was found that production traits - body weight, slaughter value, egg production, hatchability - did not changed significantly even at 100% replacement level of extracted soya. The feed conversion rate also did not changed markedly but it was lower in the case of egg production where marked improvement was found at 75% replacement level. The results suggests that extracted sunflower meal can be use efficiently in waterfowl nutrition also without animal protein supply but with synthetic amino acid and energy supplementation.