Dried Rum Distillery Stillage in Broiler Rations

Abstract

In two experiments, each employing 200 hybrid chicks, dried stillage levels of 0, 10, 20 and 30% were compared in rations based mainly on ground maize, soybean meal and fishmeal, and theoretically equicaloric and isonitrogenous. In experiment 1, chicks were fed starter rations (20.3-21.9% CP) from 1 day until 4 weeks of age, and then grower rations (15.7-16.6% CP) until marketing age at 9 weeks. The chicks spent the first 2 weeks in a battery brooder and thereafter were in pens of 20 each on a bedded floor. Mean final liveweights for the respective rations were 2446, 2341, 1614 and 1223 g, with 10% stillage not significantly different, but the 20% and 30% stillage treatments inferior to the control (P <.01). Twenty-two chicks died, mostly during the first 2 weeks, but apparently not because of the experimental rations. The respective feed efficiencies (liveweight gain/feed intake) over the 9 weeks of test were .46, .47, .34 and .29. A saving of other feed inputs was achieved without loss of efficiency by using 10% stillage, whereas the higher levels were inefficient. In experiment 2 all the chicks were raised to 5 weeks of age on a ration without stillage. The same grower rations as in experiment 1 were fed from 5 to 9 weeks. Mean finalliveweights were 2106, 2098, 1968 abd 1628 g, with the same significant differences among treatments as previously. The feed efficiencies during the 4 weeks of test were .41, .38, .37 and .25, with only the 30% stillage inferior to the control (P <.01). The saving of other feed due to the use of stillage was less at the 10% level but more at the 20% than in experiment 1. In neither experiment did the inclusion of stillage make the rations unacceptable to the chicks. There was a direct relation between stillage level and daily feed intake as a percentage of liveweight. Sanitary conditions worsened due to black and watery excreta at successive stillage levels. Ten percent dried stillage, or possibly slightly higher in the final stages of growth, could be used in broiler rations as one non-polluting method of stillage disposal with only a minimal reduction in animal productivity.