Composition and Utilization of Poultry By-Product and Hydrolyzed Feather Meal in Broiler Diets

Abstract

The proximate analysis with standard errors of 201 samples of poultry by-product and hydrolyzed feather meal (PBHFM) is presented. The metabolizable energy of this product was determined to be 2708 kcal. /kg . Eight experiments were conducted to investigate the role of PBHFM in the diet of broiler chicks. Experiments 1–3 indicated that 10% PBHFM could replace a protein equivalent amount of soybean meal without deleterious effects. The necessity of lysine supplementation in diets containing adequate methionine was demonstrated in experiments 4–6. In experiment 7 the addition of 10.9% PBHFM which replaced all the soybean meal in the starter diet of chicks when supplemented with methionine and lysine to requirement resulted in equal performance as measured by body weight, feed efficiency, performance index (PI), eviscerated meat ratio (EMR) and % grade A carcasses. Supplementary isoleucine or threonine fed singly or in combination did not stimulate the growth of chicks fed a diet containing 10.9% PBHFM.