Organic poultry production and forage digestibility

Abstract

The current experiments were conducted to evaluate organic poultry production and the digestibility of organic feeds and pasture forages. A performance study was conducted to determine the effect of exogenous non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) enzyme supplementation on the performance and carcass characteristics of organically-reared broiler chickens. The addition of an exogenous NSP enzyme cocktail improved the performance and carcass characteristics of organically-reared broilers given access to pasture only in spring months. Pasture forages may contribute digestible nutrients to poultry; however, this contribution has not been evaluated in past research. A digestibility study was conducted to determine the nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AME n) and nitrogen-corrected true metabolizable energy (TME n) of organic broiler diets and pasture forages. Additionally, the true amino acid digestibility (TAAD) of pasture forages was evaluated using poultry as the model. Poultry given access to pasture can meet a portion of their nutrient requirements through pasture access. contributed to this research. Thank you Amy Parsons, Leah Merritt, Nicole Baker, John Hott, Sarah Cutlip, and all of the undergraduate students and staff that have contributed to my success. Special thanks to my parents and my brother for their continued support and confidence in my abilities and accomplishments. iii