Hi folks,
Does anyone have any hard data on the effect of feed fermentation as it pertains to meat bird feed conversion ratio? My understanding is that adding water to feed to cause fermentation of said feed causes the feed to first swell and then effect microbial growth in the feed which can improve the "bioavailability" of the nutrients (macro and micro) in the feed. It seems that every homesteading person in the tri-state area and her siblings has a YouTube channel where many fermentation-related buzzwords (such as "bioavailability") are mentioned and there's much ado made about how the now water-swelled feed goes further. That's all great and wonderful - no disrespect to those fine folks who take the time to post videos - but what I personally actually care about is if there's a significant change in the feed conversion ratio of meat birds when fermentation is employed.
It seems that there's a lot of anecdotal accounts of how fermentation is the bee's knees... just looking for some empirical data to support that position, specifically for meat birds. Making the feed go further is great - and with feed costs always on the rise, I'm a big fan of this - but support for fermentation as a means of improving the feed conversion ratio is of great interest to me.
I am aware of the Washington State study for egg layers where a statistically significant increase in egg production was found between dry and fermented feed and a decrease when water was added just prior to feeding.
Thanks muchly,
Matt
Does anyone have any hard data on the effect of feed fermentation as it pertains to meat bird feed conversion ratio? My understanding is that adding water to feed to cause fermentation of said feed causes the feed to first swell and then effect microbial growth in the feed which can improve the "bioavailability" of the nutrients (macro and micro) in the feed. It seems that every homesteading person in the tri-state area and her siblings has a YouTube channel where many fermentation-related buzzwords (such as "bioavailability") are mentioned and there's much ado made about how the now water-swelled feed goes further. That's all great and wonderful - no disrespect to those fine folks who take the time to post videos - but what I personally actually care about is if there's a significant change in the feed conversion ratio of meat birds when fermentation is employed.
It seems that there's a lot of anecdotal accounts of how fermentation is the bee's knees... just looking for some empirical data to support that position, specifically for meat birds. Making the feed go further is great - and with feed costs always on the rise, I'm a big fan of this - but support for fermentation as a means of improving the feed conversion ratio is of great interest to me.
I am aware of the Washington State study for egg layers where a statistically significant increase in egg production was found between dry and fermented feed and a decrease when water was added just prior to feeding.
Thanks muchly,
Matt
