The Use of Chicken Feather Meal in Feeds

Abstract

CHICKEN feather meal represents a large potential source of protein for feed use. The volume of dry feathers available annually at processing plants has been estimated as in excess of 50,000 tons. Feathers are almost pure protein which, if made available for feed use, could do much to supply amino acids in poultry diets. Block (1939) analyzed feather protein and found it to contain large amounts of glycine, cystine, arginine, and phenylalanine. Similar data on arginine, cystine, and phenylalanine were reported by Graham, Waitkoff and Hier (1949). Routh (1942) studied the nutritive value of powdered chicken feathers and reported that the protein supported moderate growth in young rats when it was supplemented with tryptophan, methionine, lysine, and histidine. Newell and Elvehjem (1947) studied the nutritive value of feathers along with other keratin proteins and reported that, in general, the rate of growth of chicks and rats fed the keratin proteins …