Peanut Meal for Layers
An ongoing project of the Poultry Science Department at the University of Georgia has been to investigate means of increasing the use of Georgia agricultural products in poultry feeds. Current ongoing projects involve studies with pearl millet, cottonseed meal, and most recently, peanut meal.
Much like soybean meal, peanut meal is obtained following the extraction of oil for human consumption. Peanut oil is especially valued for its frying characteristics. The peanut itself (without shell) contains more than 40% oil. Once this is removed, a high protein material remains which is suitable for poultry and animal feeding.
In an ongoing study at the University of Georgia, numerous samples of commercially processed peanut meal are being obtained and evaluated for their nutritional profile. Preliminary results confirm that this ingredient is quite comparable to soybean meal in terms of nutrient composition. Protein of the samples tested routinely was found to be between 47 and 48% (very similar to soybean meal), while having about 10% more metabolizable energy (1240 kcal/lb). Thus, if peanut meal is employed as a protein source in a portion of the feed, less fat would be added in order to obtain the same energy level.
There are several aspects of peanut meal which must be recognized prior to using it in layer feed. First, while the protein level is very similar to that of soybean meal, there are differences in amino acid composition.
Arginine in peanut meal is much higher than in soybean meal. However, lysine and threonine are much lower. Peanut meal has approximately 1.8% lysine as compared to 3.0% in soybean meal.
Secondly, there is concern regarding peanut meal and its possible contamination with aflatoxin. The aspergillus molds that produce aflatoxin find peanut meal to be an exceptionally good substrate. Thus, a quality control program for peanut meal must include a monitoring of aflatoxin as an essential component. It should be stated that higher levels of aflatoxin can be tolerated in peanut meal than in corn, simply because much less would be used in the feed.
For example, if a shipment of peanut meal were found to contain 100 parts per billion (ppb) of aflatoxin and the peanut meal was included in feed at a level of 5%, this would lead to only 5 ppb aflatoxin in the finished feed. This level is far below any reasonable problem threshold for this toxin.
Conclusion: Peanut meal appears to be an attractive feed ingredient for layers. However, recall that its amino acid profile is somewhat different than that of soybean meal. Guarantees should be obtained so as to avoid shipments with high levels of aflatoxin.
By Nicholas M. Dale, Extension Poultry Scientist
The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The peanut meal use is limited to those countries who have local crop of nut with sufficient quantity to produce meal; in other countries it is not practical and again, level of aflatoxins is not easy to control in this type of ingredient.
A comprehensive reseach should be conducted on peanut meal usage in animal feed, especially the digestability co-efficient and it will be realise that soya is still a better source of plant protein.
Interesting article about Peanut Meal for Layers. Before the advent of soya, groundnut (because the nut is buried underground) cake as we call it was the protein source of choice. In Nigeria, it is usually 100-200$ per ton less than soya meal. The concern for aflatoxin is grave so it is not recommended for use in breeders. With the severe shortage of soya in 2008, feedmillers have resorted to 100% gnc, versus other years when it was a combination of soya bean meal, groundnut meal or cake and sometimes cottonseed cake (with Ferrous sulphate).
It's a good issue about Peanut Meal for Layers, the comparison is too good scientifically but not economically, the neglect to compare prices of the two items.
