Adding value to the UK poultry industry

Abstract

Considerable commercial interest had been expressed in the UK in investigating the use of oats in poultry rations, as birds fed commercially on oat diets appeared to perform better than would have been expected from the nutritional description. Advances in genetic breeding in the UK had led to the establishment of naked oats as a viable break crop option for growers and advanced varieties of high oil naked oats offer the potential for significantly enhanced performance in monogastrics diets. The AFENO project was established to conduct a three year coordinated programme of research to test the advantages of naked oats to the grower as an economic breakcrop, to the poultry industry as an effective ingredient in broiler and turkey rations, and to the consumer in improved meat quality. The naked oats showed high levels of metabolisable energy when compared to wheat together with a good quality digestible amino acid profile. All other nutritional parameters were established to be satisfactory for poultry. Meat produced on high oat diets was found to have similar taste and texture to conventional diets. A satisfactory predictive energy equation specifically for naked oats was established with the use of a constant. The research demonstrated the outdated nature of the nutritional information currently available for oats to the animal industry and the positive benefit of the addition of moderate amounts of oat hulls to monogastrics rations. Two commercial collaborators placed a number of experimental short-chain production contracts with growers in order to assess the supply logistics and use of naked oats in commercial operations with the view to a significant increase in the production area if the trials prove to be successful. There is a theoretical demand for approximately 700,000 tonnes of naked oats per year, equivalent to the total current UK annual oat production. Maunsell C et al. 2003. Avian Feed Efficiency from Naked Oats (AFENO) October 2000 - September 2003. Final report of Defra Project No LS3623