作者家禽废弃物利用率牛肉ts00014.docVIP

PAGE 1 PAGE 2 UTILIZATION OF POULTRY LITTER AS FEED FOR BEEF CATTLEa a Presented at FDA Public Hearing, Kansas City, Joseph P. Fontenot John W. Hancock Jr. Professor Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Blacksburg My comments will be concerning nutritional value of poultry litter and safety aspects of feeding poultry litter to beef cattle. I have conducted research on feeding poultry litter since 1963. I am well informed concerning the research conducted by other scientists also. I am an animal nutritionist. Poultry litter includes excreta, bedding, wasted feed and feathers. Bedding may consist of wood shavings, sawdust, straw, peanut hulls or other fibrous materials. Most of the poultry litter is from broiler production. The litter may be from one crop of broilers or accumulated over several crops of birds. The litter usually contains 20 to 25% moisture. Poultry litter is fed mainly to beef cows and stocker cattle. Little, if any, is fed to fattening cattle. Substantiated amounts are fed in important broiler-producing states. In Virginia, it is estimated that 20 to 25% of the litter is fed. In the U.S. 5.6 million tons of litter dry matter are produced per year. If 20% of the litter is fed, over one million tons are fed per year. Research on feeding poultry litter has been conducted since the 1950’s. We started research at Virginia Tech in 1963. We have studied nutritional value, performance of cattle fed litter, animal health aspects, quality of animal products, and residues in animal products. Broiler litter contains 25 to 50% crude protein and 55 to 60% TDN, dry matter basis, and is rich in essential minerals. Thus, the nutritional value is similar to or higher than good quality legume hay. Performance in beef cattle fed broiler litter has been similar to cattle fed conventional feeds. An important aspect is the effect of feeding animal wastes on quality of animal products. In different