Some nutritional aspects of feeding sorghum grain of high tannin content to growing chickens

Abstract

The grains of three sorghum varieties varying in tannin content were fed to growing chickens as 70 per cent of their diet in three experiments. Tannic acid per se was also fed as 0.1 per cent and 1.0 per cent of the grain component in one of these experiments. There was a marked growth retardation as the tannin content of the grain component rose. This retardation, whether produced by an increase in plant tannin or the addition of tannic acid per se, could only be partially alleviated by supplementation with high levels of methionine and choline. Raising the tannic acid or plant tannin level of a ration appears to have two detrimental effectsdepressing feed intake and a toxic effect. Addition of tannic acid significantly depressed liver fat content and testis weight. Additional methionine plus choline supplementation prevented the liver fat depression but did not prevent the reduction in testis weight.