COMMON PROTEIN SOURCES FOR POULTRY DIETS
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ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS
Blood meal
Whole blood meal is produced by spray drying at low temperatures the fresh whole blood from animal processing plants. The fresh blood is typically collected in on-site cooling tanks that utilize agitation to prevent coagulation of the fresh blood. The whole blood is then centrifuged to remove foreign material. Whole blood meal contains about 80% crude protein, with 1% methionine (2.4% methionine + cystine).
Feather meal
Hydrolyzed poultry feathers or feather meal is produced by hydrolyzing clean, undecomposed feathers from slaughtered poultry. Hydrolysis is accomplished with steam and pressure which break the keratinous bond and increases the digestibility of the protein in the feathers. The quality of feather meal is affected by the length of time that it is hydrolyzed. The protein content of feather meal is typical 85%. If 75% crude protein or less, the hydrolyzation was incomplete.
Fishmeal
Fishmeal in poultry diets: Understanding the production of this valuable feed ingredient (University of Florida)
Meat and Bone meal
Meat and bone meal, meat meal, slaughterhouse by-product meal (Animal feed Resources Information System)
Poultry by-product meal
Poultry by-product meal, Poultry offal meal (Animal Feed Resources Information System)
CANOLA MEAL
Canola is a rapeseed developed in Canada that is low in the two main antinutritional factors that have limited rapeseed's use in poultry diets - erucic acid and glucosinolate. Canola meal produced from low erucic acid, low glucosinolate cultivars of canola seed are a suitable replacement for soybean meal in poultry diets. The presence of sinapine, however, limits its use with brown egg layers, especially those breeds developed with Rhode Island Reds. The breakdown of sinapine in such chickens results in the production of a compound that gives eggs a fishy taste.
Using whole canola seed in livestock diets (Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, Canada)
Canola meal in poultry diets (Canola Council)
The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan - Canola (Canada)
FIELD PEAS
Field peas (Pisum sativum) contain 20-29% crude protein and are a potential protein-energy source for poultry diets. Research has reported that replacing a large portion of the soybean meal with field peas can result in reduced performance of growing chickens and laying hens. The presence of alpha-galactosides is proposed as the cause of the poor growth in broiler chickens but the cause of reduced performance of laying hens is not known. Research suggests that broiler chickens can tolerate up to 20% field peas in their diets. Up to 40% can be used if the diets are supplemented with the enzyme pectinase and the diets formulated to 15% higher than NRC recommendations.
Peas, as with other legumes, are low in methionine. In addition, some varieties have high levels of tannin. Peas are also high in starch but the starch is less digestible than the starch of any cereal grain.
A guide to feeding field peas to livestock - Beef, Dairy, Sheep, Swine and Poultry (North Dakota State University)
FLAX
Flax seed contains high levels of protein (26%) and oil (41%). It is also an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, particularly linolenic acid. Flax is currently used in poultry feeds to alter the fatty acid composition of eggs (i.e., omega-3 enriched eggs). High levels of flaxseed (>10%) result in a decrease in overall egg acceptability as assessed by aroma and flavor.
Current practice in feed formulation is to stabilize flaxseed with the addition of a tocopherol/vitamin E antioxidant at the level of 10 mg/100g of feed. The flavor quality of vitamin E/omega-3 fatty acids enriched eggs have been found to be superior to eggs solely containing enhanced omega-3 fatty acids. Flax seed has also been shown to be successful in the production of omega-3 enriched chicken meat, although the use of full-fat flax seed resulted in lower live weights and smaller carcasses.
Flax seeds are very small so adding grit to the diet increases it utilization.
The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan - Flax (Canada)
LUPINS
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI - United Kingdom) studies lupins in poultry diets
Lupins can contain up to 44% crude protein. Previous research has shown they can be included in poultry diets with no adverse effects on performance provided the diets are supplemented with expensive synthetic amino acids. There is a lack of information on the use of low levels of lupins in poultry diets as a direct substitution for soyabean meal, without additional amino acid supplementation.
Conclusions: Lupin inclusion reduced feed intake and growth rate in poultry, and there is limited potential for lupins to be used as an alternative protein source.
SOYBEANS / SOYBEAN MEAL
In the United States the major source of protein in poultry diets is soybean meal. The price and availability of organic soybean meal has resulted in producers looking for alternative protein sources for their diets.
Soybean meal composition (Soybean Meal Information Center)
Soybean meal - Demand (Soybean Meal Information Center)
Soybean use - poultry (Soybean Meal Information Center)
Soybean meal in poultry nutrition (Soybean Meal Information Center)
Roasted whole soybeans
There has been an increased interest in the use of whole soybean meals, especially in organic poultry diets. Farmers can grower soybeans but can not get them mechanically extracted (only approved method for organic soybean meal production since the more commonly used solvent extraction method is not permitted). When whole soybeans are used they must be roasted to de-activated the trpysin-inhibitors they contain. This anti-nutritional factors is typically deactivated by the temperatures involved in oil extraction and the production of soybean meal.
Research has shown that it is possible to include 15% roasted soybeans in starter turkey diets or replace 100% of the soybean meal with roasted soybeans in grower and finisher diets for female turkeys with no adverse affects on growth performance or carcass composition.
SUNFLOWER
Sunflower seeds are used for oil production. The meal remaining after oil extraction is a potential feed ingredient for poultry. Sunflower meal has a relatively high protein content (17-21%) but is low in energy and deficient in lysine, limiting its use. Solvent extracted sunflower seed meal cannot be used in certified organic feeds. The oil must be removed with mechanical extraction.
It is also possible to include whole sunflower seeds in poultry diets. Research has shown that whole sunflower seeds can be included at up to 30# of layer diets with no adverse affects on hen performance. Hens fed diets containing sunflower seeds, however, give eggs with a significantly reduced color score (i.e., they look pale) and a significant rise in yolk cholesterol content.
When the seeds are ground, they can be included in broiler diets up to 50%.
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