Economic Viability of High Digestibility Sorghum as Feed for Market Broilers

Abstract

Recently, improved lines of the high‐lysine mutant of grain sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] have been shown by Hamaker, Axtell, and coworkers at Purdue University to have substantially greater digestibility of protein than normal cultivars. These lines exhibit substantially greater digestibility of protein than normal cultivars. Here, we seek to estimate the value of high digestibility sorghum (HDS) relative to regular sorghum for market broilers. To do this, nutritional characteristics of HDS derived from laboratory tests were incorporated into a least‐cost feed mix linear programming model. The model was used to optimize rations for starting and grown‐for‐market broilers ( Gallus gallus domesticus ) in poultry production for three age categories: 0 to 3 wk, 3 to 6 wk, and 6 to 8 wk. The base model established a premium value on HDS of $1.54, $1.24, and $0.96/t for use as feed for chicks in the three corresponding age ranges. Sensitivity analysis was performed with respect to objective function coefficients and HDS amino acid digestibility. Over a range of historical and regional prices, the inclusion of HDS was relatively stable, and average premiums for HDS derived were close to or above base model values. From amino acid digestibility parametric analysis, it was found that the premium on HDS increases essentially linearly with improvements in digestibility over the 0 to 10% range.