Utilization of Byproducts from the Biofuels Industry as Feed Ingredients for Commercial Turkey Production
Poultry - 2008
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I believe we are at a very critical time fro the turkey industry (and livestock industry in general) because of rapidly rising feed costs.
Richard Nelson, Nutritionist, Willmar Poultry Company
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Project Contact:
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Sally Noll |
Funding:
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$41,964 |
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District:
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Unknown |
The Problem
The price of corn, along with increasing concerns of an adequate supply of corn for feeding to poultry in the near future, has nearly doubled in price since last year. Feed costs per pound of turkey marketed have increased from 20 cents per pound to almost 30 cents per pound, with some reports indicating feed cost could reach nearly 40 cents per pound. As the demand for corn for ethanol production increases, poultry producers are looking for viable alternatives or replacements for a portion of the corn in the feed. Likewise, as production of biodiesel goes on-line, fat sources will most likely move toward biodiesel use and become less available for animal feeding.
By-products of the biofuels industry include dried distiller’s grains with solubles (DDGS) in ethanol production, and crude glycerin in biodiesel production. The ethanol industry is rapidly evolving and many companies are looking at methods that will produce a very different product from the current DDGS product, such as a high protein DDGS, high fat DDGS, or low fiber DDGS.
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Background
A disadvantage cited by nutritionists of including high levels of DDGS in turkey diets is that pellet mill efficiency decreases and pellet quality of the final feed product with DDGS is poorer. It has been suggested that glycerin could play the role of a binding agent in feeds with DDGS. In addition, pelleting of feed increases its energy value in feeding as compared to feeding mash by at least four percent. Glycerin, chemically, doesn’t have the same gross energy value of fat but could still rpovi8de some energy to market turkey diets. However, there are reports that the glycerin content of the raw product is variable in its content of glycerol. Research is needed to determine how best to use these products in turkey feeds.
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Objectives
The short-term benefits of this research are to provide turkey producers with readily available guidelines on the use of these new products and the potential to help decrease or slow the trend in skyrocketing feed costs. At the same time, the results of the feeding trials can be used by the ethanol/biodiesel plants to market their new products.
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Work Plan
Objective 1: Determine the feeding value of alternative distillers grains products for turkeys by:
• Characterizing the nutritional components of conventional distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), corn germ (CG), and high protein DDGS.
• Determining the metabolizable energy content of CG and Hp in comparison to DDGS.
• Feeding diets to turkeys with different inclusion levels of CF and HP in diets with and without conventional DDGS.
Objective 2: Determine the value of glycerin as an energy source in diets of market turkeys by:
• Determining the metabolizable energy value of glycerin.
• Feeding diets to turkeys with different inclusion levels of glycerin in diets varying in nutrient (energy) density.
Objective 3: Determine the pelleting performance and quality of feeds containing DDGS and glycerin by:
• Determining the variability in chemical composition of crude glycerin (moisture) obtained from different sources.
• Determining the pellet quality properties of glycerin in combination with DDGS
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