Fish Nutrition and Feed Technology (2+1)

Unit 13 - Non-conventional feed ingredients and anti-nutritional factors

13.5.Poultry By-Products and Feather Meal

Poultry by-products are primarily used by the pet food industry, and feather meal is a dietary ingredient, in poultry rations. They appear to be excellent protein and lipid sources containing 69 percent crude protein, 10-21 percent lipid and about 10 percent ash. Hydrolyzed feather meal is produced by cooking feathers in the presence of calcium hydroxide to increase its digestibility. Feather meal has been evaluated in both fresh and salt water species. It contains about 80-85 percent protein and is a relatively good source of sulphur-containing amino acids. Whether these amino acids are completely available has not been demonstrated. Good results have been reported when it is used in catfish diets. Poultry by-products are lower in lysine than fishmeal.