Growth performance and carcass characteristics of guinea fowl broilers fed micronized-dehulled pea (Pisum sativum L.) as a substitute for soybean meal

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of substitution of soybean meal (SBM) with dehulled-micronized peas (Pisum sativum) in diets of guinea fowl broilers on their growth performance, car- cass yields, and fatty acid composition of meat. One hundred forty 1-d-old guinea fowl keets were randomly assigned to 2 dietary treatments, which were fed from hatch to 12 wk. The birds were fed 2 wheat middling- based diets comprising a control diet, which contained SBM (78 g/kg) and a test diet containing dehulled- micronized peas (180 g/kg) as the main protein source. The substitution of SBM with peas had no adverse ef- fect on growth performance, dressing percentage, or breast and thigh muscle relative weights of the guinea broilers. However, a reduction of abdominal fat content (P < 0.05) was observed in birds fed the pea diet com- pared with the control. Breast and thigh meat of birds fed the pea diet had higher lightness scores (P < 0.05) and water-holding capacity (P < 0.01) than the control. Meat from guinea fowls fed the pea diet had less choles- terol (P < 0.01) and lipids (P < 0.05), and higher con- centrations of phospholipids (P < 0.05). Feeding peas increased polyunsaturated fatty acid concentration in breast and thigh muscles, and decreased the saturated fatty acid concentration. Feeding the pea diet also low- ered the n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid ratio of the guinea broiler muscles. Our results suggest that replac- ing the conventional SBM as the protein source with dehulled-micronized pea meal in diets of guinea fowls broilers can improve carcass quality and favorable lipid profile without adversely affecting growth performance traits