Feed costs for producing broiler chickens accounts for 60% to 70% of total production costs, and stump waste from the production of button mushrooms comprises nearly 30% of total mushroom weight. Marrying the two has the potential to reduce both cost and waste, especially in Pennsylvania, which is a national leader in the production of broiler chickens and button mushrooms.
To learn whether the two are compatible, a team of Penn State researchers conducted a new study to determine how supplementing the feed of broilers with mushroom stump waste affected the growth and health of the chickens.
In findings available online now, which will be published in the upcoming June issue of The Journal of Applied Poultry Research, the researchers reported that results from the 21-day trial indicate that broiler chickens fed up to 3% mushroom stump waste grew at the same rate as birds in the study that didn't receive fungi supplementation, and their digestion was unaffected. Supplementation at 4% and 5%, the researchers found, slowed growth and interfered with the birds' digestion of amino acids, or the organic compounds used to make proteins.
"The use of low-cost unconventional ingredients has become common practice when formulating poultry diets, and alternatives may include by-products that result from food crops used for human consumption," said research team leader John Boney, Vernon E. Norris Faculty Fellow of Poultry Nutrition in the College of Agricultural Sciences. "Mushroom stump waste may include the potential added benefit of novel nutritional benefits for the broilers."
Read more at phys.org