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Digestibility of extensively hydrolysed poultry feather meal
Extensively hydrolysed poultry feather (EHPF) is used in diets of aquatic species to promote intake and growth and in dog and cat nutrition to enhance diet palatability. However, little is known regarding its digestibility in monogastric farm animal species, particularly in poultry.
O
20 40 60 80
0 Total Amino Acids dig. Boisen dig. EHFM (Protamine) Feather Meal Poultry By Product Meal 20 ▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 28, No. 2, 2020
BY FRANCIS AMANN EUGENIO AND JOËL DUPERRAY, BCF LIFE SCIENCES, FRANCE, CÉCILE PICART, ADM FRANCE
ne animal by-product that is typically used in ani- mal diets is Poultry By-Products Meal (PBPM), which is made up of unmarketable and slaugh- terhouse trimmings of poultry meat and carcass
that is usually devoid of feathers, offal and blood. Because of the nature of PBPM, in which trimmings and whole carcasses can be found, the proportion of meat and bone may vary, re- sulting into a less stable nutrient content in the final product. Feathers represent a large proportion of waste products in poultry production. It is almost impossible to degrade feath- ers in the digestive tract because it is largely composed of
100 Figure 1 - Total A.A. digestibility compared to
Boisen digestibility (%). 97
88,3 81,4 72,1 100 89,3
the protein (β-) keratin, which is generally indigestible, if it is not processed with physical and chemical modifications e.g., autoclaving. Feathers can be converted into feather meal (FM) when processed in this way. Protamine (BCF Life Scienc- es, Inc.) is a different product that is produced by an intricate process of acid hydrolysis of feathers; it is in fact an Exten- sively Hydrolysed Poultry Feather (EHPF). The aim of this in- novative process is to produce a product with a very high nu- tritional value, with high amino acid content (> 80 %) and high digestibility. A study was conducted atthe ADM Re- search Facility in Saint-Nolff, France, from January to Febru- ary 2017 in order to determine the protein and amino acid digestibility of EHPF in caecectomised cockerels and com- pare it to the other regularly used poultry production by-products, FM and PBPM. It also verified whether lanthio- nine content from feather-based by-products could be an in- dicator of amino acid digestibility, comparing the effect of the various processes used.
Study method A sampel of 18 adult ISA brown cockerels were used. The birds were caecectomised in order to remove any interfer- ence with the measurement of amino acids digestibility due to fermentation of the microbiota which mainly takes place in the cecum. The birds in the experiment were housed in me- tabolism cages in a thermo-regulated room. The cages were fitted with individual collection trays for excreta. Birds were exposed to 12 h of light each day. Each bird was randomly al- lotted to one of the three experimental diets: EHPF, FM or PBPM. A sample of each protein source was set aside for anal- ysis. The diets were a mixture of sugar (56 g) and protein (24 g). Sugar did not affect the product’s digestibility and was added to dilute nutrients in the diet. Water was available ad libitum. To measure digestibility, the experimental design known as the Sibbald method was followed.
Digestibility results The digestibility results are included in Figure 1. It was found that EHPF had higher nitrogen digestibility (99.6%) than both
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