WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Years of research have given dairy, pork and beef producers mountains of data about the right feed mixes to provide their livestock. They can tell with near certainty what combination of feed and nutrients they need to raise the most productive or marketable animals.

But when it comes to poultry, there’s little information by comparison.

Poultry producers go with what seems best or what was handed down to them by their fathers and grandfathers. And while there’s no doubt chickens, turkeys and ducks thrive that way, research is taking place that could change how they are fed.

The research is being led by William A. Dozier III, a researcher at Auburn University in Alabama. He is looking at the way amino acids, phosphorus and pepsin and other nutrients are digested by poultry. It’s part of a project supported by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Assoc.

A statement from the organization emphasized the results of the research conducted thus far are preliminary, but it appears microbial intestinal activity (the best measurement of digestion efficiency) is determined more by the age of the bird than the protein source.

Todd Applegate, a professor specializing in poultry in the Animal Science Department at Purdue University, has been involved in other poultry research projects with Dozier in the past and is familiar with this project. He said this kind of research is relatively new in poultry, although the results have been well-defined for pork and cattle producers for a number of years.

“Poultry has lagged somewhat that of the swine industry in how to formulate the best diet for birds,” said Applegate. “In the swine industry, producers can account for between 85 and 90 percent of the amino acids and the co-products like bone meal being digested.

“You want to account for as much of that as you can because what’s not digested ends up as nitrogen waste, which costs money to dispose of properly for a farm.”

In all livestock production, the food that goes in one end of the animal comes out as waste at the other. In analyzing the waste, researchers look to see what percentage of the food taken in is used by the animal and how much is excreted.

All of the inputs cost money, and if too much of one ingredient is not being digested, then it’s probably best to cut back because it’s being wasted, said Applegate. “You wind up losing money because the animal’s not using it. It simply winds up as manure and excess nitrogen,” he explained.

It’s a lesson the swine industry learned a long time ago. He said research in poultry began in 2004 and back then, it was a difficult sell to producers because the cost of inputs was low.

“Today, with corn at $6 or $7 a bushel and the cost of everything else up, it’s not such a hard sell,” he added.

The formulas for cattle and pigs are better defined than poultry, and Applegate doesn’t see that changing. “Poultry is a bit more sensitive to regional factors,” he said. “You use what you have.

“You can plug in a value for meal because the meal available in one area of the country is different than another area. It’s the same with the baking industry, which supplies distillers grain. In some areas, their inputs are used to make bread and in other areas, it’s cookies.”

But by using local ingredients, Applegate says suppliers and farmers save on shipping costs.

The goal of the research is to provide parameters for poultry producers on what are the best and most digestible ingredients. When the research is further along, farmers will be able to better follow the path being taken by beef and pork producers – with more digestible food and less waste.