Production of therapeutic and prophylactic compound feed for birds: Technology effectiveness using non traditional raw materials

The monograph presents the technology of production of environmentally friendly therapeutic and preventive mixed fodders for laying hens, designed to solve the problem of non-infectious gastrointestinal diseases of birds without the use of feed antibiotics. Scientific novelty of the work consists in justification of replacement of imported corn (up to 47%) by local drought-resistant grain sorghum, which is subjected to pre-infrared (IR) treatment. It was found that IR irradiation in the wavelength range of 0.9-1.2 µm not only disinfects the raw material, but also increases protein digestibility from 82.3% to 89.8%. Another key element of the recipe was the use of powdered semi-finished product from pomegranate squeeze (secondary raw material of juice production) instead of wheat bran. Due to the high content of tannins and polyphenols, pomegranate pomace provides a powerful firming effect, reliably preventing diarrhea already on the second day of feeding. Production tests proved that the new mixed feed increases egg weight, improves feed conversion and is economically beneficial: its cost price is lower than its control analogs, and the profitability of production is higher.