Hygienic feed manufacturing strategies improve pelleting efficiency while maintaining early turkey poult performance and tibia mineralization

Feed manufacturing strategies affect feed hygiene, pelleting efficiency, pellet quality, and nutrient availability, ultimately impacting turkey performance. Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of feed manufacturing strategy on pelleting efficiency, poult performance, and tibia mineralization. A common commercial diet was utilized in Experiment 1. Mash feed was subjected to either a standard (STD) or a hygienic (HYG) manufacturing strategy. The STD manufacturing strategy used 76.7°C steam conditioning for 15 s while the HYG manufacturing strategy used 85°C steam conditioning for 15 s with a 45 s retention time in a hygienizer at 82.2°C. Pelleted feed was crumbled and fed to turkeys in Experiment 2. A total of 1,320 Hybrid Converter hen poults were housed in floor pens from d 1-28. On d 28, 3 poults per pen were randomly selected for tibia excision and ashing. One-way ANOVA tests were performed for both experiments using the GLM procedure of SAS. In Experiment 1, HYG manufacturing reduced pellet mill motor load (P < 0.001) and increased hot pellet temperature by 6.1°C (P = 0.004). Pellet durability improved with HYG manufacturing (P < 0.05). Manufacturing strategy did not impact phytase activity recovery (P = 0.989). In Experiment 2, poult performance was not influenced by manufacturing strategy (P > 0.05). Furthermore, manufacturing strategy did not impact tibia mineralization (P = 0.150). In conclusion, the HYG manufacturing strategy improved milling efficiency and pellet durability, without jeopardizing phytase activity. Ultimately, turkey poult performance and tibia mineralization were maintained through 28 d of age when consuming feed manufactured with our defined HYG manufacturing conditions.