Improving the efficiency of broiler poultry production by developing and implementing an innovative high-protein concentrate feed with high digestibility

Project title: Improving the efficiency of broiler poultry production by developing and implementing an innovative high-protein concentrate feed with high digestibility, produced through an evaporation process, as an alternative to imported genetically modified soybean meal.

Poland currently holds a leading position in the production of poultry meat in the international arena. This is related to the very rapid growth in poultry meat production (20% in the last two years) and its export. The position developed by Poland in the production of poultry meat may be undermined by the current problems concerning the nutrition of monogastric animals.

• One of the main reasons that may affect our position in the world is the very high dependence of domestic animal production on post-extraction soybean meal (PŚS), which is entirely imported. Poland annually, to meet its feed needs, imports about 2-3 million tons of PŚS, i.e. 1-1.5 million tons of pure (100%) protein.
• Another problem that Polish breeders of monogastric animals have to face is the "Act on Feed", which (in Article 15, paragraph 1, point 4 of the Act of 22 July 2006) prohibits the introduction into circulation in the territory of the Republic of Poland of feed derived from genetically modified plants and genetically modified organisms intended for feed use. Approval of the Act is postponed due to problems with obtaining alternative, domestic sources of feed protein. It should be remembered that the commonly used post-extraction soybean meal is almost entirely produced from genetically modified soybeans (RR). The entry into force of the aforementioned Act will significantly contribute to the collapse of Polish poultry production. In the provisions of the Act of 22 November 2018, the Minister of Agriculture was obliged to develop a plan for the use of domestic protein sources and to minimize the deficit of feed protein in terms of that obtained from domestic sources.

Complete replacement of genetically modified soy protein with domestic legume seeds or domestic post-extraction meals will be difficult due to the limited share of these feeds in animal rations. This applies particularly to feed mixtures for slaughter poultry due to the excessive content of structural carbohydrates (fibers) and antinutritional substances (alkaloids, tannins, glucosinolates). These antinutritional substances cause deterioration of nutrient absorption, disorders in the functioning of the digestive tract, reduce the energy value of feed and reduce the palatability of feed, reducing its consumption (Abbas and Ahmad, 2018; Angelino and Jeffery, 2014; YoshieStark et al., 2006). Therefore, efforts are being made to reduce or even completely eliminate them from animal feeds and mixtures, and alternative sources of highly digestible and highly assimilable protein are still being sought.

The results of the operation will be supra-regional in nature because the developed product can be made available to the target group, which are poultry farmers located in Poland, but also in Europe or America. Our own results indicate that the proposed substrate, which is viscous water from the process of melting animal fat, is a great alternative to components for the production of high-protein, highly digestible concentrated feed. It is a colloidal solution of protein substances, including collagen, soluble in water, with a very valuable amino acid composition, and also with the presence of fat, which consequently translates into its higher metabolic energy than in other protein components, e.g. post-extraction soybean meal. Additionally, viscous water is a very good source of such macroelements as calcium and phosphorus. They occur in a form that is completely digestible by animals. These results indicate the need to carry out development work in the field of developing a process for the production of full-value high-protein feed from the proposed substrate in the form of viscous water, as well as its application to practice on farms.

The planned operation involves the implementation of tasks aimed at:

1. developing and implementing in-house a process for the production of high-protein concentrate resulting from the evaporation process for sticky water as an alternative to post-extraction soybean meal for the production of concentrated feed for feeding slaughter poultry,
2. developing an innovative feed product for feeding on farms producing slaughter poultry,
3. the possibility of making the developed technology widely available for commercialization in other plants conducting the process of melting animal fat,
4. protecting the natural environment by implementing into business practice elements of the closed-loop economy consisting in 100% processing of by-products of the fat melting process,
5. presenting to the general public a new innovative feed for feeding slaughter poultry produced thanks to a significantly improved method of processing by-products of the animal fat melting process.

Project activities

Stage 1. Development work: Technical and technological development of the high-protein concentrate production process

• Part 1. Technological characteristics of the substrate used to produce the high-protein concentrate.
• Part 2. Development of technological and technical solutions for the evaporation process used in the production of the high-protein concentrate.
• Part 3. Purchase and delivery of chemical reagents.
• Part 4. Purchase and delivery of machines and devices.

STAGE 2. Development, pre-implementation, implementation work: start-up, optimization, production of the high-protein concentrate

• Part 1. Work on production assumptions: determining the recipe and parameters of the process, temperature range, process time, degree of product concentration
• Part 2. Purchase and delivery of chemical reagents.
• Part 3. Modeling the evaporation process in a flow system.
• Part 4. Auxiliary work during assembly and start-up of evaporation devices.
• Part 5. Carrying out the production process of high-protein concentrate.

STAGE 3: Development and implementation work: optimization, improvement, dissemination of results

• Part 1. Breeding of slaughter poultry in the feeding model a) soy concentrate b) protein concentrate.
• Part 2. Assessment of body weight gain in the studied groups.
• Part 3. Assessment of basic nutritional values in meat from poultry from the studied groups.
• Part 4. Assessment of benefits: developed protein concentrate as an effective source of highly digestible protein as an alternative to genetically modified soybean meal.
• Part 5. Dissemination of results.
• Part 6. Preparation of documentation. Completion of the operation.

The main benefits of the project

The primary goal determines the qualitative change expressed by the decrease in the costs of production of slaughter poultry by an average of PLN 0.3 for each kilogram of poultry meat produced, which directly translates into the improvement of the process efficiency. The scale of the impact of the qualitative change concerns both the operational group itself and the further environment - both local and national producers of slaughter poultry. This results from the decrease in the cost of producing a kilogram of poultry meat in each farm that implements the proposed solution into its economic practice.

Other specific objectives:

1. Achieving average weekly weight gains for slaughter poultry at a level at least equal to or higher than the group of animals fed with imported genetically modified soybean meal.
2. Achieving average classification values for poultry carcasses at a level at least equal to or higher than the group of animals fed with imported genetically modified soybean meal.
3. Reducing the operating costs of the production process of the new feed material by approximately 30-40% by using existing infrastructure such as melting devices and waste heat derived from them in comparison to the methods used so far - processes of burning fossil fuels in order to obtain thermal energy.
4. Achieving ecological purity, consisting in the fact that the evaporation process allows for the introduction of elements of a closed-loop economy to the process of producing animal fat in such a way that it is possible to completely process the by-product, i.e. sticky water, thus not generating any by-products that need to be deposited or disposed of.

Practice summary

Project implementation activities are and will be conducted on the basis of the Common Agricultural Policy. In the context of the challenges of the contemporary global economy, the development of local food systems, meaning production, processing and trade on the local market, is very important. This is a significant contribution to solving the problems of ongoing globalization and is an important element of sustainable development in the world. By developing and implementing a new alternative feed material to post-extraction soybean meal, the Operation will contribute to the development of local food systems and maintaining food security, which is particularly important in the agricultural policy of the European Union by maintaining local production capacities, ensuring a transparent food production process and taking care of the sustainable development of the entire agri-food sector.

The production of a new alternative feed to post-extraction soybean meal from a material that is a by-product of the animal fat melting process is based on the maximum use of the potential of raw materials and energy and the improvement of the production process by introducing an evaporation process using waste heat. Production organised in this way is part of the circular economy policy, which aims to minimise the negative impact of agricultural and industrial production on the natural environment and, consequently, mitigate climate change.

Results achieved

The operation was carried out in accordance with the scope of the material and financial statement, which consisted of:

• conducting research resulting in the production of an innovative feed component for poultry feeding.

The objective was achieved through the work of the research team in collaboration with AGH, the use of special research and measurement apparatus and chemical reagent kits. It was also necessary to purchase an evaporation station with a cooling system. The process of producing the innovative feed component was carried out based on experimentally selected parameters of the evaporation process.

As a result of the operation, the following objectives of Cooperation Measure 2A were achieved:

1. Innovation support - an innovative feed component for poultry feeding was produced in cooperation with AGH promoting and publishing the results (knowledge base development) in the rural area;
2. The link between food production and research and innovation has been strengthened, including results having a positive impact directly on the production of slaughter poultry and on the environment by closing the circulation of waste materials in the animal fat production process.

The specific objective achieved is: to develop and implement a new high-protein concentrated feed with high digestibility obtained through an evaporation process as an alternative to imported genetically modified soya meal.

Completion of the operation resulted in results with a decidedly positive impact on slaughter poultry production:

1. the concentration of highly digestible protein in the developed protein component averaged 67%;
2. the developed protein component has the same nutritional value composition as genetically modified post-extraction soybean meal;
3. poultry fed a concentrated feed based on the developed protein component as a protein source;
4. the meatiness of poultry carcasses was 2% higher for the group fed a concentrate feed based on the developed protein component compared to a concentrate feed based on post-extraction soybean meal.

Additional comments

In Poland, the ban on the use of processed animal protein in the feed of all species of farm animals has been in force since November 1, 2003. In 2021, this ban, with some restrictions, was lifted again.
Since the country has had a deficit of protein used for animal feed for years, the Polish authorities wanted to ease the EU restrictions, because this would limit the import of genetically modified soybean meal. A necessary condition for introducing changes and easing the feed ban is the completion of work on diagnostic methods to determine the species of protein contained in feed. Scientists have already developed a method to detect pork protein DNA. The problem is with the method that allows the identification of poultry protein due to the diversity of birds. Each species is characterized by a different genotype, which complicates and slows down the work. It is also necessary to develop detailed legal regulations and principles of supervision by the authorities.
The European Commission banned the use of meat and bone meal after the outbreak of the mad cow disease (BSE). It was then concluded that one of the causes of the occurrence of this disease was the feeding of cattle with meals originating from cows.