Effect of Moisture Addition at the Mixer to a Corn-Soybean-Based Diet on Broiler Performance

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Abstract
Moisture addition at the mixer has been shown to increase pellet durability and decrease pellet mill energy consumption for corn-soybean-based diets; however, the effect of this process on animal performance has not been tested. Two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of moisture addition on male broiler live weight gain (LWG), feed efficiency (FE), and mortality. Moisture was added to the diets at the mixer. The diets were fed in the form of mash or crumbled/pelleted feed. Feed form and moisture treatments were applied to a 0-to-3-wk battery study and a 0-to-6-wk floor pen study. Feeding crumbled/standard pelleted diets resulted in higher LWG and FE compared to mash diets in both studies. High moisture pelleted treatments contributed to significantly higher adjusted FE in the 3-to-6-wk period of the floor pen experiment compared to the low moisture treatments. Broiler death was affected only in the 3-to-6-wk period of the floor pen experiment, in which standard pelleted diets produced a significantly higher percentage of mortality relative to mash diets. These results show that high moisture pelleted diets are beneficial to bird performance when fed in the 3-to-6-wk grower period, and crumbled/pelleted diets are superior to mash throughout broiler rearing.