Nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn), apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of amino acids (AA), and growth performance of thermally processed and fermented food waste for broilers12

Three experiments were conducted to determine the nutrient availability of extruded and fermented food waste (FW) and subsequent effects on growth performance of broilers. Dining hall food waste was either mixed with soybean meal (SBM) and extruded (CFW) or was fermented for 14 days to create a value-added product (FFW). One-day old male broilers (Ross 708 Byproduct Broiler, Sallisaw, OK) were used in three separate 21-day studies to determine AMEn (Exp. 1, n = 300) and apparent ileal digestibility (AID, Exp. 2, n = 240) of CFW and FFW, and their effects on growth performance (Exp. 3, n= 420). Treatments for Exp. 1 and 2 consisted of 1) CFW, 2) conventional SBM (CSBM), 3) extruded SBM (ESBM), 4) SBM + FFW (SFFW). A basal treatment was added to Exp. 1 as a control. Treatments for Exp. 3 consisted of 1) corn/SBM basal, 2) 10% CFW, 3) 30% CFW, 4) 1.5% FFW, 5) 5.5% FFW, 6) basal + commercial astaxanthin, and 7) basal + commercial antibiotic. There were 10 cages per treatment with 6 broilers per cage and balanced by body weight. Data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS v. 9.4 (Cary, NC). The ESBM had a greater (P < 0.01) AMEn content than CSBM and SFFW whereas CFW was intermediate. Broilers fed CFW and CSBM had increased (P < 0.05) AID of indispensable amino acids compared to SFFW, except Met whereas ESBM was increased (P < 0.05) compared to SFFW with the exception of His, Met, and Try. Broilers fed 1.5% FFW had increased (P < 0.01) feed intake (FI) and BWG compared to those fed the control basal diet. Broilers fed the commercial astaxanthin or 30% CFW had poorer (P < 0.01) FCR compared to those fed the basal control. In conclusion, two different forms of food waste successfully served as a nutrient source for broilers. Composite food waste and SFFW had similar AMEn to CSBM while CFW had a similar AID of amino acids to CSBM. Including 30% of CFW reduced FCR of broilers; however, including 5.5% of SFFW increased FI and BWG.