Studies were conducted in which levels of essential amino acids in excess of the minimum requirements were minimized in broiler diets composed of commercially available feed stuffs and synthetic amino acid supplements. Growth rate and efficiency of feed utilization of chicks fed such diets were equal to that attained by chicks fed diets formulated by conventional means when grown under conditions where heat stress was not a factor and significantly improved when fed under conditions of heat stress. Improvements were obtained in efficiency of protein and calorie utilization using this technique of formulation.

Feeding trials were conducted to determine optimum daily calorie intake needs for broiler breeder hens of normal and dwarf (dw) genetic lines. Pullets were grown to 24 weeks of age with limited feed intake and placed on one of five series of energy intakes. Series 3 represented a composite of energy intakes suggested by major broiler breeders with Series 1 and 2 representing a slower rate of energy increase and Series 4 and 5 representing more rapid rates. It was found that energy intakes suggested by a composite of the recommendations by the major breeders resulted in performance equal or superior to that of other groups tested. Using prediction equations the maximum daily needs for energy for normal sized hens was 422 M.E. kcal./day, with 418 mg./day of lysine and 380 mg./day of methionine.

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Feeding trials were conducted with broiler breeder hens to determine optimum daily intake of protein for maximum performance. Pullets were grown to 24 weeks of age on limited feed intake to maintain the body weight within the limits suggested by the breeder. A controlled-feeding system was used during the laying period with step-wise increase in calorie intakes. In the first study corn-soybean type diets were used to supply 14 to 22 grams of protein/day in 2 gram increments. In the second study daily protein intakes of 14.5 to 24 grams were compared. In addition, diets supplying 14.5 and 16 grams of protein daily were also fed with an additional 200 mg/day of lysine and methionine. The results of these studies suggest that the protein requirement of broiler breeder hens fed corn-soybean meal diets without supplemental amino acids is 20-22 grams per day.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate full fat soybeans cooked in a commercial gas-fired cooker (Roast-a-Tron) as a protein and energy source for broilers. In the first study, fineness of grind of the cooked beans had little effect on body weight gains and nitrogen retention when fed in mash diets. However, the fat digestibility was markedly improved by increasing the fineness of grind. Pelleting the diets containing roasted soybeans significantly improved 7-24 day gains and feed conversion ratios as compared to their mash counterpart.A second study to eight weeks of age demonstrated that broilers can be fed diets containing roasted full fat beans to market weights when the diets are pelleted. ABSTRACTTwo commercial fermentation products, Vigofac and Fermacto-500, were tested in diets for turkey breeder hens to determine if they would have any influence on reproductive performance. These were tested in separate studies and were used to supplement both corn-soy diets and diets containing 5% fish meal.Vigofac at 1% of the diet supported a significantly higher rate of hatchability when added to corn-soy diets and a numerical but non-significant improvement when added to diets with fish meal. Fermacto-500, fed at 0.075% of the diet, significantly increased the number of eggs per hen when added to diets with fish meal with a numerical but nonsignificant improvement in production when added to corn-soy diets. The use of these or similar types of commercial fermentation products may be of value in supplementing the diets of breeder hen turkeys.