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Feather is composed of over 900 g/kg of crude protein (CP) for a mature chicken. Most feather by-products are hydrolyzed feather meal using physical and chemical treatment by steam-hydrolyzation, and these methods result in a loss of sensitive amino acids (AA) such as methionine, lysine and tryptophan. Considering this, biological processes with microbial keratinase are being developed as an alternative and enzymatic feather meal (EFM) which is being increasingly considered as a viable source of dietary protein. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the apparent (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA and SID AA composition in enzymatic feather meal (EFM), and to determine the effects of EFM as a replacement for spray-dried porcine plasma (SDPP) or dried porcine solubles (DPS) on the performance and intestinal health of nursery piglets.
In Exp. 1, six barrows (initial body weight: 38.5 ± 3.0 kg) fitted with ileal T-cannulas were fed 2 diets in a 2-period crossover design to determine AID and SID of AA in EFM. The AID or SID of each indispensable AA was greater than 0.70 or 0.76, respectively. The concentrations of total SID indispensable AA were 310 g/kg, and the concentrations of SID methionine (6.0 g/kg) and tryptophan (6.3 g/kg) were lowest in EFM.
In Exp. 2, 120 healthy piglets with an average body weight of 11.2 ± 2.6 kg were assigned into 4 treatments with 5 replicate pens per treatment (3 barrows and 3 gilts per pen) according to sex and weight in a randomized complete block design. Basal animal protein sources of treatments contained 30.0 g/kg of fish meal and 40.0 g/kg of whey powder (Control). The 3 other diets included 15.0 g/kg of SDPP (SDPPD), 20.0 g/kg of DPS (DPSD), or 15.0 g/kg of EFM (EFMD), respectively. The experiment lasted for 4 wk. Piglets fed EFMD improved average daily gain by 0.15 or 0.13 compared with Control or DPSD, and tended to increase feed conversion efficiency. No differences were observed between EFMD and SDPPD in growing performance. The EFMD improved immune globulin G content in serum in comparison with Control. The ratio of villus height to crypt depth in duodenum was increased, and villus height in duodenum, jejunum and ileum tended to increase for piglets fed EFMD.
Accordingly, enzymatic feather meal could be an alternative animal protein source in diets for nursery piglets in terms of positive growth performance and intestinal health.
Pan, L., Ma, X. K., Wang, H. L., Xu, X., Zeng, Z. K., Tian, Q. Y., Zhao, P. F., Zhang, Z. Y., Piao, X. S. (2016). Enzymatic feather meal as an alternative animal protein source in diets for nursery pigs. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 212, 112-121. doi:10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2015.12.014