2012 SOUTHERN POULTRY SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM

Evaluation of methodology to determine TMEn of feed ingredients
R. Samuel, T. Ao, M. Ford, A. Cantor, A. Pescatore, J. Pierce
Allzyme SSF is a naturally fermented product with activities of multiple enzymes. The recommended inclusion may impact the TMEn content of feedstuffs and diets composed of those feedstuffs for poultry. Corn meal, DDGS, SBM, canola meal, corn-SBM diet, corn-SBM diet with 70% replacement of SBM by DDGS and wheat-SBM diet were prepared with and without Allzyme SSF. Twenty-four roosters were housed individually in metabolism cages with an individual tray for excreta collection. Six birds were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments within each of four trials. Roosters were trained to a single 1 h ad libitum feeding period per day until feed intake was at least 30 g. Birds were fasted for at least 24 h before feeding for 1 h which was immediately followed by 24 h excreta collection which was started after feed withdrawal (collection day 1). Feeding and collection was repeated similarly on day 2. Finally, excreta was collected from fasted birds for 24 h to determine endogenous losses (collection day 3). Results from excreta collection days were not different, therefore results were pooled by diet. Endogenous excreta were pooled by diet. Feed intake exceeded or equaled 30 g per d. There were no differences in feed intake (P>0.19) with or without Allzyme SSF in the diets, except feed intake was greater (P<0.05) for birds fed DDGS without Allzyme SSF (47.7 vs. 37.1 g/d). Excreta weights before or after drying were not different (P>0.06) due to the inclusion of Allzyme SSF, except the weight of excreta from birds fed corn meal with Allzyme SSF was greater (P<0.01) before drying. True ME digestibility was greater (P=0.03) for birds fed canola meal with Allzyme SSF than without (57.3 vs. 51.5%); there were no other differences. Energy digestibility ranged from 51 to 90 % for the individual feedstuffs. Birds appeared to adjust their feed intakes according to the energy digestibility of the diets. Inclusion of DDGS in the corn-SBM diet very slightly reduced energy digestibility (83.3 vs 81.0%; P<0.01). The TMEn (kcal/g) was not different due to the inclusion of Allzyme SSF in any of the diets (P>0.13). Therefore, it appears that using intact (non-cecectomized) roosters to determine the effect of Allzyme SSF on the TMEn of individual feedstuffs or diets is not a viable experimental approach.

PREVIOUS RESEARCH

Pearl millet in layer diets enhances egg yolk n-3 fatty acids 
VP Collins, AH Cantor, AJ Pescatore, ML Straw, and MJ Ford 
Poultry Science 76(2): 326-330, 1997.
A study was conducted to determine whether substitution of pearl millet for corn in layer diets could enrich egg yolks with n-3 fatty acids. Seventy-two Single Comb White Leghorn hens of a commercial strain in their second cycle of production were fed isocaloric, isonitrogeneous diets (2,860 kcal AMEn/kg and 16% CP) formulated with corn, equal amounts of corn and pearl millet, or pearl millet as the grain source. Each of the three diets was fed to eight replicate groups of three hens for 6 wk. Dietary treatments had no effect on feed intake, BW, egg production, egg weight, and yolk weight. Feeding millet in place of corn significantly decreased yolk pigmentation. The ratio of n-6 fatty acids to n-3 fatty acids in eggs was 13.1, 10.1, and 8.3 for hens fed corn, corn+pearl millet, and pearl millet, respectively. Feeding pearl millet produces eggs significantly (P < 0.05) enriched in n-3 fatty acids.