Influence of Dialyzed Whey on the Growth and Nutrient Absorption from Small Intestine of Chickens

Abstract

Whey is known to be a by-product of making cheese from bovine milk. Whey protein isolated from bovine whey was used as feedstuff for animal production. But when intact whey was given as drinking water, the growth of chickens was restrained. As a large amount of lactic acid in animal feeds reduced feed intake of chickens, lactic acid in intact whey might result in the suppression of the growth and feed intake of chickens. In the present study, therefore, intact whey was dialyzed to exclude small molecular compounds like lactic acid and orally administrated to chickens to examine the influence of dialyzed whey on the growth and nutrient absorption from small intestine of chickens. Body weight gain of chickens given intact whey was significantly lower than that of birds given tap water. Feed intake showed similar tendency to body weight gain. Body weight gain of chickens given dialyzed whey was not significantly different from that of the control group. When chickens were administrated glucose-amino acid mixture solution with intact whey, plasma cystine level of the intact whey group was significantly higher than that of dialyzed whey group. It was concluded that the exclusion of small molecular compounds by dialysis would be available to exclude the adverse effect of intact whey for the growth of chickens.