The effect of incremental inclusion of whole grain wheat in the diet of growing turkeys on growth performance, feed conversion ratio, cecal health, and digesta characteristics

This study was conducted to determine the effects of adding incremental amounts of whole grain wheat (0, 100, and 200 g per kilogram of feed) to the diet of growing turkey poults on growth performance, feed efficiency, digesta pH, and the incidence of cecal distension. Seventy two, 6-wk-old commercial line turkeys were blocked by live weight and randomly allocated to 1 of 3 dietary treatment (n = 4 pens/treatment). Turkeys were offered their respective treatments for the duration of the study. Feed offered and refused and body weights were determined weekly. At 63 days of age 12 turkeys from each treatment were euthanized and crop contents were collected and weighed, pH of gizzard and cecal digesta measured, and ceca and cecal contents visually scored. At 84 days of age, all remaining turkeys were euthanized and the same sampling procedure repeated. Feed conversion ratio was poorer in those turkeys offered diets containing whole grain wheat (P < 0.05), declining quadratically (P < 0.005) as the proportion of whole grain wheat (WGW) in the diet increased. The proportion of WGW found in the crop post-mortem reflected whole wheat inclusion rates of the diets. The pH of gizzard contents at 63 days was lower in turkeys receiving diets supplemented with WGW, declining quadratically (P = 0.005) as the proportion of WGW in the diet increased. However, this difference in gizzard pH was not apparent at 84 days of age. Cecal content pH, cecal visual appearance scores, and cecal content visual appearance scores were not affected by the inclusion of WGW to the diet. The inclusion of WGW to the diets of growing turkeys reduces growth performance and feed efficiency suggesting that the addition of whole wheat may have reduced the nutritional quality of the diet as a whole.