Read the
magazine
story to find out more.
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![Photo: Chicks. Link to photo information](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090509202147im_/http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/may00/k3627-16i.jpg)
ARS researchers have found that glycerin--a
byproduct of biodiesel produced from soybeansmakes a good feed supplement
for chickens and pigs. Click the image for more information about
it.
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![For further reading](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090509202147im_/http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/For-further-reading.gif)
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Byproducts of Biofuels Could be Economically Viable for
Growers
By Alfredo
Flores
April 10, 2009 Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists have found environmentally and economically sound uses for the
byproducts of biofuel production.
Animal scientist William Dozier, formerly with the
ARS
Poultry Research Unit in Mississippi State, Miss., has been working with
colleagues at the ARS
Swine
Odor and Manure Management Research Unit in Ames, Iowa, and
Iowa State University (ISU) to find ways
to supplement animal diets with glycerin. Glycerin, a biofuel byproduct,
contains energy-providing nutrients for animals.
Dozier and ISU colleague Kristjan Bregendahl evaluated the use of glycerin
supplements in poultry feed. Dozier primarily dealt with broilers, which are
chickens raised specifically for meat production, and gave
glycerin-supplemented poultry feed to broilers that were 7 to 45 days old.
Dozier evaluated the apparent metabolizable energy (AME) intakea
standard measure of energyfor the study group and for a control group
that ate a standard diet. The youngest chicks, aged 7 to 10 days, showed a
higher AME intake than the control group. However, the two groups showed no
significant differences in the amount of feed they consumed, body weight, or
the amount of energy lost in feces and urine (energy excretion).
The second group of broilers, aged 21 to 24 days old, that consumed glycerin
feed supplements showed no difference in body weight, energy excretion, and
AME. However, their feed intake and the amount of energy provided by the diet
intake (gross energy) increased when glycerin supplementation increased. The
oldest broilers, aged 42 to 45 days old, showed increases in feed consumption,
gross energy, and AME.
Dozier notes that from a nutritional standpoint, this technology can serve
as an alternative dietary energy source that could result in lower feed costs.
Swine and poultry producers are very interested in supplementing livestock feed
with glycerin, in part because the corn grain and soybeans that used to be fed
to livestock are now being used for biofuel production. This way, the crops can
be used for both biofuels and for livestock feed.
Read
more about this research in the April 2009 issue of Agricultural
Research magazine.
ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.