Chemical Composition

Feathers are 91% protein, 1.3% fat and 7.9% water.

Absorbents tested included bagasse (<0.5% N), ammoniated bagasse (6.5% N), a mixture (1:1) of bagasse and cottonseed meal (3.1% N), and ground chicken feathers (13.2% N).

Feathers are similar in chemical composition to hair, fingernails and wool, and scientists such as Walter Schmidt believe that feeding feathers to livestock doesn't make any more sense than feeding them wool.

Nutritional Value Of Broiler Litter

The bedding materials used in broiler houses in Alabama are wood shavings, sawdust, peanut hulls, and some shredded paper products. Poultry house owners use these products in varying amounts for the initial bedding and as additional bedding after each batch of birds. The bedding material alone is a low-quality feed ingredient. However, with the addition of feathers, waste feed, and excrement from the birds, the nutrient quality of the litter improves.

The kind of bedding material used in a broiler house has little effect on the quality of the litter when it is used for feeding cattle. Because the amount of bedding used and the number of batches of birds housed on the litter are not standardized or regulated, litter quality can vary considerably from one producer to another. Other factors such as broiler house management, the method of litter removal, and moisture content can add to the variation in litter composition and quality. The average nutrient content of 106 samples of broiler litter collected from across Alabama is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Nutrient Content of Broiler Litter in Alabama

Components:	Dry basis: 19.5	Average Range Moisture: 4.70 - 39
Dry Matter, %	80.5	61 - 95
TDN*, %	50.0	36 - 64
Crude Protein, %	24.9	15 - 38
Bound Nitrogen, %	15.0	5 - 64
Crude Fiber, %	23.6	11 - 52
Minerals Calcium, %	2.3	0.81 - 6.13
Phosphorus, %	1.6	0.56 - 3.92
Potassium, %	2.3	0.73 - 5.17
Magnesium, %	0.52	0.19 - 0.88
Sulfur, %	0.50	0.22 - 0.83
Copper, ppm	473	25 - 1,003
Iron, ppm	2,377	529 - 12,604
Manganese, ppm	348	125 - 667
Zinc, ppm	315	106 - 669
Ash (minerals)	24.7	9 - 54

Broiler litter has been used as a cattle feed ingredient for over 35 years without harmful effects to humans who have consumed products of these animals. The purpose of this publication is neither to promote nor to condemn the feeding of litter, but rather to serve as a source of information on using litter as a feed ingredient.

1. ABSTRACT
In the production of chicken meat the main waste are feathers and in the production of leather the main waste that remains after splitting of limed hides is fleshing (i.e., the lowest layer of the skin together with the underlying fatty tissue). Both wastes represent a problem for the industry since they pollute the environment. Their utilization is difficult since the feathers have a very rigid protein structure, and the fleshing contains too much water, lime and fat. But both wastes contain too much protein (feather - 80-90%, fleshing - 30-35% on dry mass basis). In this work, simple technologies for processing waste feathers and fleshing are depicted to produce a protein hydrolysate from feathers and raw gelatin, cattle tallow and protein hydrolysate from flashing. Both technologies are applicable to a large-scale production.

There are over 1 million tonnes of feathers produced each year in the U.S. and as the consumption of poultry meat increases so will the production of this valuable raw material. Feathers have a protein content of around 84 percent and does not suffer from the disadvantages of anti-nutritional factors, such as tannins, glucosinolates, lectins and trypsin inhibiting factors. However raw feathers are relatively insoluble and have a very low digestibility of five percent due to the high keratin content and the strong disulphide bonding of the amino acids. Fortunately with the controlled technology available to us today, we are able to convert a relatively insoluble protein into a palatable and highly digestible protein source as seen in Table 1.

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TABLE 1. THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF CERTAIN SELECTED PROTEIN SOURCES.

Abstract
Hydrolyzed Feather Meal as a Source of Amino Acids for Finisher Pigs.
....
The competition between humans and pigs for quality sources of protein is likely to increase continuously because of the ever-increasing world population. The effort to find viable alternative protein sources for pigs is, therefore, important for successful swine production in the future. Hydrolyzed feather meal (FM) has been of interest in nutrition research because of its high protein content, but it is deficient in some amino acids, especially lysine. Because the adequacy of lysine is the primary concern for most swine diets, it is generally recommended that the use of FM should be limited to about 5% of the diet for optimum performance. However, previous research indicated that finisher pigs may be able to utilize higher levels of FM than those commonly recommended. The research described herein was conducted to evaluate the value of FM as a source of dietary amino acids for finisher pigs, and to determine the possibility of replacing soybean meal (SBM) completely with FM by lysine supplementation.

Unprocessed poultry feathers cannot be digested by single-stomach animals; however, feathers hydrolysed by cooking at a high temperature under sufficient pressure are highly digestible. This treatment also gives the feathers a good keeping quality, so that unlike raw feathers the feather meal will not rot. The insolubility of feathers is mainly due to the protein keratin, which contains a high percentage of the amino acid cystine. Autoclaving reduces the cystine content from about 10% to 3.5%, thereby making the feathers more soluble and digestible. The digestibility of the crude protein in hydrolysed feathers is 75-80%. The quality of the product depends largely upon the efficiency of the hydrolysis. Undercooked meal will still contain indigestible raw feathers, while overcooking reduces the digestibility and lowers the yield of crude protein. The feathers can be processed either under low pressure (130 C) for two and a half hours or under high pressure (145 C) for thirty minutes. After cooking, the material is dried at about 60 C and ground to pass a 20-mesh screen. If a pressure cooker is not available, the poultry feathers can be hydrolysed with chemicals. The feathers are cooked in an open kettle with a solution of sodium sulphite in alcohol and water. During cooking about 80% of the feather material dissolves in the liquid. After cooking, the liquid is filtered to remove the undissolved parts and is allowed to cool. During cooling the whole mixture will set, and the solvent can then be expelled by pressing and washing. The solid protein residue is dried before use.

Hydrolysed feather meal can supply part of the protein in the diet of ruminants. Up to 10% has been included in concentrates for dairy cattle. Abrupt introduction of feather meal in the diet may reduce consumption of the concentrate. The gradual addition of hydrolysed feather meal over an extended period seems to minimize this problem. As feather protein is deficient in several essential amino acids, other ingredients must be used to balance these deficiencies. In practice, the proportion of hydrolysed feather meal included in rations for monogastric animals is 5% or less. When low-quality oilcakes make up the protein portion of the diet, 2.5% fish meal or meat meal is added to supplement the feather meal. Provided that satisfactory levels of the essential amino acids are maintained, hydrolysed feather meal is a useful source of protein.

					As % of dry matter
				DM	CP	CF	Ash	EE	NFE	Ca	P	Ref
Hydrolysed poultry
feathers				93.0	91.4	0.4	3.8	3.9	0.5	0.42	0.51	401
					Nylon bag degradability
						a	b	c		12hr	48hr	Ref
						(%)	(%)	(/hour)		(%)	(%)
Feather meal					DM	9.8	6.4	0.0460			15.5	627
	[P (rumen degradability at time t) = a+b*(1-exp(-c*t))]
			Amino acid composition as % of crude protein
Arg	Cys	Gly	His	Ils	Leu	Lys	Met	Phe	Thr	Try	Tyr	Val
9.1	5.4	25.5	0.8	2.6	5.2	4.3	0.9	2.5	1.8	0.0	1.2	2.5

Feather meal
Although feather meal is one of the most protein-rich feedstuffs available, more than 90% crude protein, it is poor in some essential amino acids like methionine, lysine, histidine and tryptophan (Table 6.13). Therefore, the proportion of feather meal that can be used in the ration will depend on the content and the quality of the protein in the other components of the diet. Whereas steam cooking at 3.2 atmospheres can produce a good quality product, Eggum (1970) reported that acid hydrolysis (HCl at pH 6 for 20 hours) can also be used to produce a meal of high digestibility and similar biological value. The chemical composition of feather meal, in % dry matter, is: crude protein, 92.7; ether extract, 2.7; ash, 4.7; crude fibre, 0.1 (Boda, 1990). This same author also reported that feather meal had a dry matter content and in vitro digestibility of 96 and 46%, respectively.

Table 6.13. Composition of the essential amino acids in steam and acid-treated feather meal (g/16 g nitrogen).

Table 2. Nutrient composition of animal by-products and soybean meal[a,b] Components Meat & bone meal Poultry by-prod.meal Blood Meal c Feather meal Soybean meal Metabolizable energy (kcal/kg) 2444d 3300d 3420 3073e 2530 Crude protein (%) 50 58.0 88.9 86.4 48.5 Fat (%) 8.6 13.0 1.0 3.3 1.0 Moisture (%) 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 10.0 Calcium (%) 10.1g 3.0 0.3 0.33 0.27 Phosphorus avil. (%) 5.0f 1.7 0.25 0.55 0.2 Pepsin digestibility (%) 91.8 90.0 95.6 87.0 90.0 Amino acids (%) Arginie 3.6 4.0 3.8 5.4 3.7 Lysine 2.6 2.7 8.9 1.7 3.1 Methionine 0.7 1.0 1.5 0.4 0.7 Cystine 0.3 0.7 1.5 4.0 Meth + Cys 1.0 1.7 3.0 4.4 1.4 Tryptophan 0.3 0.5 1.1 0.5 0.7 a Values from National Research Council (1984) except as noted. b "As fed" basis. c Spray or ring dried. d Estimated from Martosiswoyo and Jensen (1987). e Fuller and Dale (1986). f AAFCO rules state minimum phosphorus level to be 4% g AAFCO rules state maximum calcium levels 2.2 times actual Phosphorus levels.

Feather Meal Hydrolyzed Dry matter: 92.0% -- ENERGY -- TDN: 69.0% NEm: 71.0 Mcal/cwt NEg: 43.0 Mcal/cwt NEl: 70.0 Mcal/cwt -- FIBER -- Crude (CF): 2.0% Acid Detergent (ADF): 16.0% Neutral Detergent (NDF): 44.0% Effective NDF (eNDF): 23.0% -- PROTEIN -- Crude: 86.0% Bypass: 75.0% Ether Extract (EE): 6.5% Ash: 4.0% -- MINERALS -- Calcium (Ca): 0.6% Phosphorus (P): 0.62% Potassium (K): 0.2% Chlorine (Cl): 0.3% Sulfur (S): 1.85% Zinc (Zn): 95.0 ppm

Gaskell compared compost, pelleted chicken manure, fish meal, liquid fish, liquid soybean meal, feather meal and seabird guano. The fertilizers were applied once before the bell peppers were transplanted, then three times after planting.

He found that the different fertilizers did not affect total pepper yield as much as they influenced early yield and size. The earliest yield and largest peppers were observed in the plots treated with feather meal at the highest rate - 180 pounds of nitrogen per acre. However, the highest economic return per fertilizer dollar was in the plots treated with compost at the rate of 180 pounds of nitrogen per acre. The highest early yields and largest peppers tended to come from plots treated with fish meal, liquid fish, liquid soybean meal, feather meal and seabird guano, all of which had shown higher weekly peak soil nitrate nitrogen. Compost and pelleted chicken manure, which consistently had the lowest soil nitrate nitrogen levels even at the highest rates, produced fewer peppers than the other plots. The feather meal fertilizer produced larger peppers and a greater early yield, two characteristics that draw a price premium. However, because compost is much less expensive than the other fertilizers, it turned out to be the most economical.

The results of a study examining the digestibility of a relatively large variety of rendered animal protein ingredients produced in North America are summarised in Table I. These results as well as other published results from other laboratories indicate that feather meals and poultry by-product meals are relatively highly digestible to fish. These high digestibility values contrast with much lower values measured in trials conducted in the 1970's. These results suggest a significant improvement in the digestibility of feather meal and poultry by-products meal in the past two to three decades, improvements probably attributable to better manufacturing practices, such as improved sorting of the raw material and the optimisation of the processing conditions.
....
Use in practical feed formulae
Table II presents a summary of the results of two trials. The first trial was conducted to examine the nutritive value of blood meal and poultry by-products meal for rainbow trout (Table II, Trial #1). The results of this trial suggest that spray-dried blood meal and poultry by-products meal are ingredients of high nutritive values for fish. In another trial, the potential of different combinations of rendered animal protein ingredients was examined (Table II, Trial #2). Growth rates of fish fed diets containing a combination of poultry by-products meal and feather meal was not statistically significant than the growth rate of fish fed the control diet. Growth rates of the fish fed diets containing a combination of meat and bone meal and feather meal or meat and bone meal and poultry by-product meal were slightly yet significantly lower than that of the fish fed the control diet. The results from this trial suggest that rendered animal protein ingredients can be valuable complementary protein sources when formulating cost-effective fish feeds.

AGRONOMIC AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF ORGANIC NITROGEN FERTILIZER MATERIALS
Mark Gaskell

Little information is available to guide growers on efficient utilization of organic nitrogen fertilizer materials. There are many materials available commercially, and costs can range from around $1 per pound of nitrogen (N) to $50 or more per pound of N. With support from the Organic Farming Research Foundation based in Santa Cruz, we evaluated several of the materials that could be useful in a commercial organic vegetable production program. We evaluated seven different organic nitrogen fertilizers during the summer of 1998 on transplanted bell peppers. The trials were conducted at Nojoqui Farm near Buellton. The materials were:

 
Table 2.  Nutrient Composition Of Litter (Dry-Weight Basis) From
147 Broiler Houses Sampled In Alabama, 1977-1987.
                                   Average
                                   Analysis            Range
                                   (percent)           (percent)
Moisture                           19.7                15.0 to 39.0
Nitrogen (N)                        3.9                 2.1 to  6.0
Phosphate (P2O5)                    3.7                 1.4 to  8.9
Potash (K2O)                        2.5                 0.8 to  6.2
Calcium (Ca)                        2.2                 0.8 to  6.1
Magnesium (Mg)                      0.5                 0.2 to  2.1
Sulfur (S)                          0.4                 0.01 to 0.8

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