POULTRY FEEDSTUFF

Abstract: A method of feeding poultry comprises including in the poultry diet from 0.01 to 5% wt of one or more polyhydric alcohols by weight of total feed. The polyhydric alcohol may be a sugar alcohol, eg sorbitol. The polyhydric alcohol is believed to act as an emulsifier for lipids and the poultry diet may also contain from 2.5 to 20% wt of lipid by weight of total feed. The method is particularly sultable for rearer broiler chickens and the polyhydric alcohols may be supplied in the form of a supplement, a premix, or a total feed.

Description: POULTRY FEEDSTUFF This invention relates to feeding poultry with a diet containing a polyhydric alcohol. A bird food containing sorbitol has been proposed. Thus, UK Patent No 1428181 describes and claims a food for granivorous birds comprising at least one substance supplying vitamins, at least one substance supplying amino acids, inorganic salts supplying trace elements, at least one preservative and at least one flavouring agent; the food having the form of pellets resembling natural grain or seeds in appearance and containing 0.1 to 0.5% by weight humectant which confers on the pellets a softened texture resembling the kernel of natural grains. The humectant may be propylene glycol or sorbitol. In this prior proposal the sorbitol is present to soften the food. The food is designed for cage birds such as canaries and it is intended to imitate and resemble the natural grain or seeds normally fed to such birds. It has now been found that polyhydric alcohols such as sorbitol when included in diets for poultry, particularly meat-producing poultry, have a growth promoting effect. Without being bound by any theory, it is believed that the beneficial effect results from the fact that the polyhydric alcohol acts as an emulsifier for lipids and, thus, improves lipid digestibility. The use of the polyhydric alcohols is particularly preferred for poultry diets with lipid contents of from 2.5 to 20 X wt of lipid by weight of total feed. According to the present invention, therefore, a method of feeding poultry comprises including in the poultry diet from 0.01 to 5% wt of one or more polyhydric alcohols by weight of total feed. The diet may be used for any poultry (including turkeys, ducks, and geese) but is particularly suitable for broiler chickens (i.e. poultry raised rapidly from day old chicks to a weight suitable for consumption). It has been found that the addition of as little as 0.1% wt of sorbitol in the diet increases the growth rate (as measured by the average live weight gain per unit of time) and reduces the Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR). Preferred polyhydric alcohols are the so-called sugar alcohols which occur naturally in syrups isolated from trees, or which may be produced from sugars by reduction eg high pressure hydrogenation or electrolytic reduction. They may be hexahydric or pentahydric alcohols. Examples of suitable sugar alcohols are: Sorbitol Hannitol Arabinitol Xylitol Galactitol Another source of sugar alcohols may be hydrogenated sugar syrups which may, in their turn, be produced by the enzymatic hydrolysis of starch. A suitable material of this type is that sold by Roquette Freres under the Registered Trade Mark Lycasin which contains Sorbitol and hydrogenated di- and poly-saccharides. A preferred range for the polyhydric alcohol may be from 0.01 to 1% wt. The other components of the diet may be the normal components for poultry feed and include sources of carbohydrate, protein, lipids (ie fats and oils), fibre, vitamins, amino-acids, and minerals. The principles of poultry feeding are well understood in the industry and the term "poultry diet" would be understood as differentiating the diet from that of other livestock such as cattle or pigs. Poultry are omnivorous, rather than granivorous, and do not detect flavours. There is no point, therefore, in including any flavouring agent in the feed, as required by the above-mentioned prior art. The method of including the polyhydric alcohol in the poultry diet may vary and the present invention includes a poultry feedstuff component containing one or more polyhydric alcohols in an amount to provide from 0.01 to 5Z of polyhydric alcohol by weight of total feed. The feedstuff component may be a feed-supplement of the polyhydric alcohol on an organic or inorganic carrier eg biscuit meal of powdered limestone. It may be a premix of the polyhydric alcohol with one or more other feed components eg a polyhydric alcohol-vitamin and/or mineral premix or it may be a complete feed. Whatever the form the component may be admixed with other components at an appropriate stage in the feed manufacturing process and in the appropriate amount to ensure that the required amount of polyhydric alcohol is included in the poultry diet. The feeding pattern may follow standard practice. Thus, feeding will normally be ad lib with, for broilers, feeds being adjusted as they grow. For example starter and finisher feeds may be used, with one or more intermediate feeds if required. The invention is illustrated by the following comparative examples. Example 1 Three poultry feeds were made up from the following constituents: maize, wheat, soya meal, full fat soya, fish meal, fat, minerals, vitamins and amino acids. The proportions were varied slightly to give Super Starter, Starter and Rearer Feeds with the following compositions: Super Starter Starter Rearer Lipid 6.5% wt 8.3% wt 8.0% wt Protein 22.7% wt 20.7% wt 18.or wt Fibre 2.9Z wt 2.9% wt 2.8% wt Lysine 1.4% wt 0.26% wt 1.04% wt Methlonine and Cysteine 0.91% wt 0.87% wt 0.76% wt Metabolisable Energy 1390 KCals/lb 1420 KCals/lb 1450 KCals/lb 0.1D wt of sorbitol was added to half of these feeds by adding it to the vitamin-mineral premix, which was then added to the mix in the normal way. The feeds were used in an eight-house broiler chicken unit. Houses 1 to 4 (38,600 broilers) were supplied with the feeds containing 0.1Z wt sorbitol; houses 5 to 8 (38,529 broilers) were used as control, being supplied with the same feed but with the sorbitol omitted. All other features of the houses were the same (e.g. temperature and lighting for houses, quantity of feed supplied and water supply). The broilers were in the houses from day old chicks until they were removed for killing. The data obtained was as follows. Houses 1 - 4 Houses 5 - 8 Feed with sorbitol Feed without sorbitol Mortality (Z) 4.42 3.93 Average live weight gain (lb) 4.356 4.281 Age (days to killing) 49.196 50.267 Feed Conversion Ratio 2.093 2.12 It will be seen that broilers with sorbitol in their feed had a higher average live weight gain over a shorter period than those without sorbitol in their feed. In economic terms the cost of the sorbitol was returned six-fold. Example 2 Trials were carried out to assess the effect of sorbitol on the Metabolisable Energy content of tallow when included in broiler chicken feed. The chicks were fed a starter mash from 0 - 7 days and the experimental diets from 8 - 21 days. Droppings were collected, weighed and sampled on days 17 to 21 to determine the influence of sorbitol on Metabolisable Energy. Chicks were weighed at days 8, 15 and 21. Diets were as follows: 1. Basal diet containing no added fat. 2. Basal diet containing 4% added tallow. 3. As Treatment 2, but including 500 g sorbitol (0.05X wt) 4. As Treatment 2, but including 1000g sorbitol (0.10X wt) Composition of basal diet is shown below. g/kg Ground wheat 619.69 Ground maize 52.08 White fish 26.04 Soyabean meal (SOC?) 219.79 Microbial Protein 52.08 Vitamin/Mineral Supplement 13.02 Dicalcium phosphate 9.38 Limestone 5.21 Salt 0.73 DL-Methionine 0.94 Lysine 1.04 1000.00 When 4% wt of tallow was added to this basal diet, a corresponding proportional reduction was made to the content of wheat, maize, fish, soyabean meal and microbial protein. The microbial protein was that sold by ICI Limited under the Registered Trade Mark "Pruteen". The results are shown below 1 2 3 4 Basal Basal + Basal + Basal + 4% tallow 4% tallow 4% tallow + 0.05% + 0.1% Sorbitol Sorbitol Liveweight gain 286.7 305.2 310.3 311.5 8-21 days g/broiler Feed Conversion Ratio 1.848 1.742 1.751 1.721 Metabolisable - 28.05 38.17 37.50 Energy of Tallow MJ/kg The results show an improved live weight gain per broiler when going from Diet 1 to Diet 4 and a corresponding lower feed conversion ratio. The metabolisable energy of the tallow was increased by the addition of sorbitol to the diet.

Claims: Claims: 1. A method of feeding poultry comprising including in the poultry diet from 0.01 to 5% wt of one or more polyhydric alcohols. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the diet also contains from 2.5 to 20% wt of lipid by weight of total feed. 3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the polyhydric alcohol is a sugar alcohol. 4. A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the sugar alcohol is sorbitol. 5. A method as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein the diet contains from 0.01 to 1Z wt of one or more polyhydric alcohols. 6. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 wherein the poultry are broiler chickens. 7. A poultry feedstock component containing one or more polyhydric alcohols in an amount to provide from 0.01 to 5% wt of polyhydric alcohol by weight of total feed. 8. A poultry feedstock component as claimed in claim 7 which is a feed supplement of one or more polyhydric alcohols on an organic or inorganic carrier. 9. A poultry feedstuff component as claimed in claim 7 which is a premix of one or more polyhydric alcohols with one or more other feed components. 10. A poultry feedstuff as claimed in claim 9 wherein the premix is a polyhydric alcohol-vitamin and/or mineral premix. 11. A poultry feedstuff component as claimed in claim 7 which is a complete poultry feed.

Inventors: PERRY, FREDERICK GEORGE, VERNON, BRIAN GEOFFREY
Applicants: BP NUTRITION (UK) LIMITED
Application year: 1983
Main classification: A23K1
IPC codes: A23K1