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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Poultry Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #184195
Title: EFFECTS OF THE ADDITION OF ROLLER MILL GROUND CORN TO PELLETED FEED ON PELLETING PARAMETERS, BROILER PERFORMANCE, AND INTESTINAL STRENGTH

Author
item Dozier Iii, William
item BEHNKE, K - KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
item KIDD, M - MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
item Branton, Scott

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Poultry Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/11/2005
Publication Date: 6/21/2006
Citation: Dozier III, W.A., Behnke, K., Kidd, M.T., and Branton, S.L. 2006. Effects of the addition of roller mill ground corn to pelleted feed on pelleting parameters, broiler performance, and intestinal strength. Journal of Applied Poultry Science. 15(2):236-244.

Interpretive Summary: Feed cost represents 65% of the total live production cost for broiler chickens that supports an industry that produces 8 billion birds annually. Increased demand to meet feed schedules is problematic since market weight of broilers has been increasing. Many of the feed mills were designed for less production capacity based on market demand for smaller size broilers. As a result, increased employee work loads have occurred to meet feed schedule demands. If feed schedules are not met, feed outages will occur leading to reduced performance. In addition, increased feed production schedules require more total energy usage for feed manufacturing. Supplementing diets with cracked corn has shown to improve pelleting production rate and reduce energy usage of the feed mill. This research evaluated responses of broilers provided diets having the addition of roller mill ground corn to pelleted feed on pelleting parameters, growth performance, and intestinal strength. Results indicated that the addition of 35% rolled corn post-pellet did not affect cumulative growth rate or feed conversion of broilers. Adding ground corn post-pellet would reduce operating time by 36 h translating to an estimated weekly savings of $10,800 for an integrated feed mill.

Technical Abstract: Maintaining optimum pelleting production rate can be difficult when manufacturing feeds for meat birds. Increased production time may be required to fill feed demand and feed outages occur if demand is not met. Identifying management strategies to enhance overall feed production rate without compromising broiler performance is warranted. This study examined the effects of adding varying amounts of corn, ground through a roller mill, to pelleted supplements on feed production parameters, growth performance, and intestinal strength of broiler chickens. Four treatments were employed from 18 to 41 d, which included a control (total diet pelleted), addition of rolled corn to pelleted supplements at 15, 25, and 35% of the corn called for in diet formulation. The final diets fed were identical in composition. Decreasing the amount of ground corn in the pelleted supplement did not affect pellet durability index in the grower diet, but pellet quality declined in the finisher diet. The dietary treatments did not adversely affect final BW gain or feed conversion. Progressive additions of ground corn to pelleted supplement did not affect gizzard wt or peakforce intestinal strength. These data indicate that 35% of the formula corn can be added post-pellet to reduce electrical cost for grinding and pelleting and improve overall production rate without adversely affecting cumulative growth performance of broilers.