Improving cost efficiency and sustainability in broiler duck nutrition

Improving cost efficiency and sustainability in broiler duck nutrition

Bonafarm-Bábolna Takarmány Ltd. as a feed producer commits itself to decreasing the cost of slaughter animal production, to increasing performance and improving feed efficiency in poultry – including broiler duck – to improve sustainability. The use of by-products in feeds is also aimed at lowering costs. When formulating feed, not only the nutrient composition of by-products has to be considered but also further effects on fattening parameters and slaughter yield.

To achieve sustainable and profitable production, it is important to provide compound feed that supports the maximisation of the animals’ genetic potential by providing the appropriate nutrient composition even when using by-products. The use of by-products of cereal and oil seed (DDGS, sunflower meal, rapeseed meal) processing has an important role in Hungarian feed production. Since these are raw materials that are easy to formulate with and can easily be incorporated into the manufacturing process, there is an increasing demand for by-products with high nutritive values.

As the access to feed raw materials is narrowing, focus is shifting to by-products as alternative raw materials. In contrary to one of the most important protein sources, soy meal, that has a fairly consistent nutrient composition, by-products can have varying nutritional values according to the raw material and the processing technology. This factor can be controlled effectively by regularly checking the analytical constituents. In summary, by-products can be viable alternatives in feed manufacturing to replace import protein sources, their use is influenced by their availability and price.

Corn is used in the renewable energy sector in increasing amounts for the production of bioethanol in Hungary, which means that the by-products are also used more frequently in feed production. DDGS is produced in the largest amount as the main by-product of industrial corn processing. It is produced in the largest amount in Hungary in the region, due to the growth in domestic bioethanol production. It is also important to point out that the disposal or the destruction of these by-products does not impose an environmental burden. This is important mainly because the price of feed raw materials, including protein sources is increasing continuously.

Bioethanol production has influenced feed production greatly by its by-product DDGS. DDGS can be used efficiently in the nutrition of several farm animal species, including broiler ducks. New technologies that have been adopted in bioethanol production in the past years had a positive effect on the nutritional composition and digestibility of the by-products, including DDGS (Table 1.). It can be used in broiler duck nutrition as a raw material because of its high protein and fibre content. This is why it is used increasingly in broiler duck feeds, replacing large amounts of corn and soy meal.

Broiler duck

Source: www.agraragazat.hu

Rapeseed meal is another important by-product, originating from the process of oil extraction from rapeseed. As a result of decades of plant breeding, oil is extracted from double zero varieties that have low erucic acid and glucosinolate content. The by-product of such oil production can be used effectively in farm animal – and also broiler duck – feeds because of its low fibre and high protein content.

Broiler duck feeding trial with feed containing by-products

The trial was composed of 10 treatments with 6 repetitions, and 300 birds per treatment. DDGS and rapeseed meal was added to the grower feed in increasing amounts. The amount of soybean meal and corn was decreased accordingly in the feed.

Trial results with DDGS and rapeseed meal

Evaluation of production parameters revealed no significant differences in slaughter weight and feed conversion rate between the trial and the control groups, or between the various treatments. Our results (Table 2) show that the inclusion of DDGS and rapeseed meal did not lead to a statistically significant deterioration of production parameters, so we can conclude that DDGS and rapeseed meal can be used safely in broiler duck grower feeds at rates of up to 20-25%.

Broiler duck

Source: Own calculations

We also performed a trial to evaluate the use of sorghum to replace corn. Under increasingly extreme weather conditions, drought tolerant feed crops such as sorghum will gain importance. This provides an opportunity to use sorghum in animal nutrition. Newer types do not contain any tannin that used to be a problem, and are more resistant to pests. Its nutritional composition (Table 3.) is comparable to corn, although with higher protein and essential amino acid content and slightly lower energy content. Because of its favourable chemical composition and low mycotoxin contamination, sorghum is a good raw material to use in broiler duck nutrition. Besides having a favourable chemical composition, sorghum is also one of the best grains to use in poultry nutrition considering its nutritional content. Sorghum can be used as the main ingredient in feeds, taking care to fulfil the specific requirements of each growth phase. In summary we can say that sorghum will play an increasingly important role in animal nutrition because of its favourable chemical composition and the changing climate.

Broiler duck

Source: www.agrarunio.hu

Broiler duck feeding trial with feed containing sorghum

The trial was composed of 10 treatments with 6 repetitions, and 300 broiler ducks per treatment. In this trial we replaced corn with sorghum or corn to achieve various crude fibre content in the trial feeds.

Sorghum study results

Evaluation of production parameters revealed no significant differences in slaughter weight and feed conversion rate between the trial and the control groups, or between the various treatments. Our results (Table 4) show that the inclusion of sorghum did not lead to a statistically significant deterioration of production parameters, so we can conclude that sorghum can be used safely in broiler duck feeds at rates of up to 30-40%.

Broiler duck

Source: Own calculations

Conclusions

Our trials have proven our presumptions to be correct: by-products (DDGS and rapeseed meal) and alternative feed ingredients (sorghum) can be used in broiler duck nutrition to improve cost-efficiency and sustainability, because they do not have a negative effect on production parameters or pose a physiological risk. Using DDGS and rapeseed meal at various inclusion rates helps us expand the range of our feed ingredients. Previously the use of sorghum was not common but our trials showed that it is a perfect replacement for corn. From an economical point of view, the use of feed ingredients will be determined by their availability and price.

Dr. Anita Juhász
Product manager
Bonafarm-Bábolna Takarmány Ltd.

Péter Kovács
Agricultural economist

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