Article published the July 23, 2019
1. Introduction
Sorghum has been described as an enigmatic grain for chicken meat production because sorghum-based broiler diets have been associated with sub-optimal performance of chickens under Australian conditions (Selle et al., 2013). Six red 'tannin-free' grain sorghum varieties harvested on the Liverpool Plains of New South Wales in 2009 were extensively characterised and compared in broi ...
Article published the May 18, 2017
1. Introduction
Meat-and-bone meal (MBM) is a potential source of protein, calcium and phosphorus in poultry diets for some parts of the world, including Australia, China and Southeast Asia. However, there are considerable variations in its protein quality and Ca and P concentrations. Ravindran et al. (2002) reported substantial variations in ash (13.0e56.5 g/100 g), crude protein (38.5e67.2 g/10 ...
Article published the March 29, 2017
1. Introduction
Sorghum is a problematic feed grain for chicken-meat production which has been considered in two reviews (Selle et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2015). A distinctive feature of sorghum is kafirin, the dominant protein fraction. Kafirin classically makes up 55% of sorghum protein and is present as discrete protein bodies located in the sorghum endosperm with a central core of a-kafirin en ...
Article published the November 18, 2016
1. Introduction
The occurrence of ‘wet litter’ in meat chicken sheds is associated with concerns regarding animal welfare, flock health, food safety, environmental impacts and reductions in production efficiency. Mitigating wet litter will only be achieved when there is thorough understanding of the multidimensional causal factors. This will require a multidisciplinary approach to un ...
Article published the October 7, 2016
1. Introduction
Primarily for the provision of energy density, grain sorghum is quite frequently included in rations for pigs, poultry and feed-lot cattle. However, in a recent meeting held by the Australian Feed Grain Partnership in December 2012, nutritionists from the three industries expressed concern about the efficiency of energy utilisation in animals offered sorghum-based diets. Essentia ...
Article published the August 22, 2016
1. Introduction
At times, sorghum provides, either partially or entirely, the feed grain base in Australian pig and poultry diets but it has been associated with sub-optimal or inconsistent growth performance in broiler chickens (Selle et al., 2010a; Liu et al., 2015a). A beneficial characteristic for including sorghum in broiler diets is as a source of energy, which is mainly derived from starc ...
Article published the April 17, 2015
I. INTRODUCTION
Sorghum is used, either partially or entirely, as the cereal grain base in Australian pig and poultry diets but it has been associated with sub-optimal broiler growth performance (Selle et al., 2010, Liu et al., 2013). Cereal grains of different varieties and from different locations may be blended into poultry diets but varying the inclusion rate of one feed ingredient will spon ...
Article published the April 17, 2015
I. INTRODUCTION
Phytase supplementation of broiler diets is a routine practice and is used primarily to liberate the P component (282 g/kg) of the phytate molecule (myo-inositol hexaphosphate; IP6). Phytase also generates ‘extra-phosphoric’ responses because phytate interacts with protein, starch, fat, calcium and trace minerals but these responses are less well understood and accep ...
Article published the April 17, 2015
I. INTRODUCTION
That a mounting array of synthetic amino acids will be incorporated into broiler diets to increasing extents would appear to be an entirely reasonable prediction. The caveat is that predictions are fraught with difficulty; particularly when they concern the future. However, nearly 50 years ago, Beames et al. (1968) made the following prognostication: “It is probable that th ...
Article published the April 17, 2015
I. FACTORIALLY DESIGNED EXPERIMENTS VS RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY
A conventional experimental approach investigates the effects of one independent variable while keeping all other variables constant. This approach faces two challenges (i) it is only valid when the underlying principles linking cause and effect are known with some certainty; (ii) variables may interact with each other and the ma ...