SUMMARY

Global chicken-meat production is projected to expand substantially in the coming decades to meet demand. Given the drought-tolerant properties of sorghum, coupled with the challenges of climate change, the use of sorghum as a feed grain for broiler chickens could markedly increase as, presently, the use of sorghum for this indication is limited. A mean crude protein concentration of 92.9 g/kg from a survey of 33 sorghum samples found an average kafirin concentration, the dominant protein fraction, of 48.2 g/kg, or 52%. As discussed, selection of grain sorghums with reduced kafirin concentrations and/or modified properties and reduced levels of phenolic compounds may largely address the shortfalls and enhance the quality of sorghum as a feed grain for chicken-meat production. If so, this should advantage energy utilisation and growth performance in broiler chickens offered sorghum-based diets. In this event, the acceptance of sorghum by chicken-meat producers would accelerate and the potential increase in sorghum usage realised.

概括

预计未来几十年全球鸡肉产量将大幅增长，以满足需求。考虑到高粱的耐旱特性，再加上气候变化的挑战，高粱作为肉鸡饲料的使用量可能会显着增加，因为目前高粱在这一适应症中的使用受到限制。对33个高粱样品进行的调查显示，平均粗蛋白浓度为92.9 g / kg，发现kafirin的平均浓度（占主导地位的蛋白部分）为48.2 g / kg或52％。如所讨论的，选择具有降低的kafirin浓度和/或改性的特性和降低的酚类化合物含量的谷物高粱，可以在很大程度上解决该不足并提高高粱作为鸡肉生产用饲料谷物的质量。如果是这样的话，这应该有利于提供高粱饮食的肉鸡的能量利用和生长性能。在这种情况下，鸡肉肉生产者对高粱的接受将加速，并实现高粱使用量的潜在增加。