Comparison of broiler chicken performance when fed diets containing meals of Bollgard II hybrid cotton containing Cry-X gene (Cry1Ac and Cry2ab gene), parental line or commercial cotton.

(1) Total and free gossypol contents were 6.2 and 0.8, 5.4 and 0.5, and 6.1 and 0.7 g/kg in meals processed (solvent extracted) from Bollgard (BG) II, non-BG II or commercial cottonseeds, respectively. (2) Broiler chicks were given one of 7 dietary treatments (iso-nitrogenous, 220 and 195 g crude protein/ kg diet at 0 to 21 and 21 to 42 d, respectively, at a metabolisable energy concentration of 12.15 MJ/kg). The treatments were: D1 (control, soybean meal [SBM] based), D2 and D3 (commercial CSM at 100 g/kg of diet with and without additional iron), D4 and D5 (BG II CSM with and without additional iron), and D6 and D7 (non-BG II parental CSM with or without additional iron). (3) Body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion efficiency, nutrient utilisation, certain blood constituents and carcase traits were not significantly affected by dietary treatments. (4) Weights of bursa and thymus were significantly higher in groups given diets containing BG II or non-BG diets containing added iron. (5) The results suggest that low free gossypol content cottonseed meals, for example, BG II, non-BG II and commercial solvent-extracted CSM could be included at 100 g/kg in broiler diets, safely replacing soybean meal without additional iron.