Resolving poor pellet quality and maintaining amino acid digestibility in commercial turkey diet feed manufacture

Abstract

SUMMARY Commercial turkey feed manufacturing often requires high throughput and high levels of fat, resulting in poor pellet quality. Many mills use low mixer-added fat (MAF) to improve ingredient binding and pellet quality, but this technique may decrease feed nutrient digestibility. Two experiments were conducted to determine the best feed manufacture technique (MTECH) to maximize pellet quality and maintain amino acid digestibility of commercial-type turkey diets. Experiment 1 was a 3-binder (binder 1, binder 2, or natural binder) × 2 MTECH [1% MAF + 38.1-mm die (MTECH1) or 3% MAF + 44.9-mm die (MTECH2)] factorial design that used commercial-type turkey starter diets manufactured at West Virginia University’s pilot feed mill. In experiment 1, both binders improved pellet quality. Employing MTECH2 decreased pellet quality (minimally; ~5% modified pellet durability index) and pellet mill electrical energy usage (~15%). Diets that contained binder 1, the marginally better binder, and natural binder used at each MTECH were chosen to test amino acid digestibility using the standardized digestibility assay with cecectomized roosters in experiment 2. The inclusion of binder 1 improved the digestibility of several tested amino acids. There was a binder × MTECH interaction, in that when binder was removed from diets manufactured utilizing MTECH1, the digestibility of some amino acids decreased, whereas MTECH2 maintained high amino acid digestibility regardless of binder.