Supplemental Fat and Metabolizable Energy-to-Nutrient Ratios for Growing Turkeys

Performance of Growing Turkey Hens as Influenced by Supplemental Dietary Fat and Different ME:Nutrient Ratios

“…The favorable response obtained from the use of supplemental fat in corn-based diets for growing turkey hens was expected on the basis of previous reports (Sell and Owings, 1981;Jensen et al, 1970;Waibel, 1978;and others). However, the magnitude of the response in increased body weight was greater than expected on the basis of previously reported research on fat supple-mentation of growing turkey hen diets by Potter et al (1974), deAlbuquerque et al (1978, Waibel (1978), Sullivan (1979), and Warnick(1981).…”

“…Sell and Owings (1981) reported that the average body weight and feed efficiency of growing toms improved linearly with each increment of supplemental fat from 1 to 8% in experiments conducted during both winter and summer. With one exception, 140-day body weights of toms were increased from .6 to 1.5% for each 1% supplemental fat.…”

The economic implications of supplemental fat usage in diets of growing turkeys

“…The magnitude of response reported by various researchers indicates that weight gains can be improved slightly (.7 to 1.6% improvement per 1% fat) and feed efficiencies can be improved an average 1.7% for every 1% of supplemental fat used in the diet. This information has been substantiated recently by Sell and Owings (1980) who reported feed efficiency improvements of .7 to 1.5% for each 1% of added fat. The type of fat source used is governed more by economic constraints than performance indices in that similar production effects would be expected if animal fat, animalvegetable blends, or vegetable oil were used.…”

“…Sources of fat shown to elicit favorable responses in turkeys include animal fat, animal-vegetable fat mixtures, and vegetable oils Sell and Owings, 1980).…”

“…Sell and Owings (1980) reported that turkey diets supplemented with a blend of animal-vegetable fat produced positive results in both weight gains and feed efficiency when fed from 0 to 20 weeks of age.…”