Influence of feed ingredients, conditioning temperature, and a dacitic tuff breccia (AZOMITE) on pellet production rate and pellet quality

Abstract

Summary Feed manufacturing is an integral component of the poultry industry. A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of feed ingredients, conditioning temperature, and AZOMITE (AZ) level on production rate and pellet quality measured by pellet durability index (PDI). A 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 factorial arrangement within the randomized complete block design was used, for a total of 24 treatments. A broiler grower diet was tested under two conditioning temperatures (82.2°C and 87.8°C), two distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) levels (0 and 8%), two meat and bone meal (MBM) levels (0 and 4%), and three levels of AZ (0, 0.25, 0.50%). Conditioning temperature, DDGS, MBM, and AZ levels all influenced production rate. Interactions between the different factors were assessed and interpreted. These interactions indicate that the inclusion of AZ increases production rate in diets containing DDGS. Both DDGS and MBM decreased production rate compared with relative controls, whereas AZ at 0.25% and 0.50% increased the production rate. Increasing conditioning temperature from 82.2°C to 87.8°C improved production rate and had a positive influence on PDI. The level of MBM and AZ did not impact PDI; however, the inclusion of DDGS had a negative impact on PDI. Although AZ did not increase throughput and PDI simultaneously, its ability to improve pellet production while maintaining PDI indicates usefulness in feed manufacturing. These results indicated that temperature and AZ can be used to offset some of the negative effects of DDGS on pelleting production rate.