THE EFFECT OF FEEDING SOYBEAN AND CORN FREE DIETS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF TURKEY POULTS TO EIGHT WEEKS OF AGE

Abstract

In recent years, small poultry producers have been interested in finding alternatives for corn and soybean meal for a variety of reasons. Perceived health concerns related to genetically modified organism (GMO) status are the primary considerations behind this trend. Secondly, the recent high price of corn and soybean and their unavailability locally in the Pacific Northwest are other reasons to identify alternative feed ingredients. For these reasons, an experiment was performed to identify the feasibility of including locally grown alternative feed ingredients in a GMO free starter-grower turkey rations. The experiment compared the growth rates and feed conversions of broad breasted white turkeys fed either a corn based –soybean free and a wheat based (corn-soybean free) to a control (corn-soybean based) diets. Day old turkey poults were randomly assigned to one of the three diets. Body weights, feed conversion, and mortality were determined at two, four, six and, eight weeks of age. The final body weights of poults fed the control diet were significantly (P = 0.001) higher than those fed either the corn based-soybean free or wheat based (corn-soybean free) diets. Body weights of birds fed the corn based-soybean free and wheat based (corn-soybean free) diets, 3.1kg and 3.2kg, respectively were not different. Feed efficiency was not different among the three dietary treatments. Excluding soybean from the diets decreased growth rates in turkey poults but did not affect feed conversion.