Evaluating the Impact of Chicken Breading Waste as a Feed Supplement on Beef Cattle Performance and Feed Intake

Abstract The growing global demand for livestock products has placed pressure on traditional feed resources, prompting the livestock industry to explore alternative, cost-effective, and sustainable feedstuffs while increasing productivity through management decisions that balance efficiency and sustainability. Along with these challenges, the agriculture industry is facing an increase in food waste and food loss in the food supply industry. Therefore, a solution to decreasing the amount of food not being utilized for human consumption is to utilize the food in the livestock feed industry. Food waste, particularly fat rich byproducts like chicken breading waste (CBW), represents a potentially valuable yet underexplored feed resource for ruminants. Although CBW does pose challenges of variation in nutrient content depending on source, it is high in fats and proteins which could be valuable to producers. Despite promising outcomes related to performance, metabolic health, and gut ecology, significant gaps remain, especially regarding the integration of multiple physiological and production parameters for beef cattle. Preliminary analysis of CBW from 4 plants in Mississippi indicated a range of moisture content from 20-65%, crude fat from 4.6-38.7%, and crude protein from 2.9-6.6% on a 90% dry matter basis. The objectives of this study are to determine the effect of increasing levels of CBW (0, 15, and 30%) on the intake and rumen pH of beef cattle. Forty mature beef cows were stratified by BW and source, then assigned to one of three forage based TMR diets: control (hay + soybean/corn gluten pellet with added water for moisture), 15% CBW, or 30% CBW. Diets were formulated to meet or exceed NASEM (2016) requirements. Cows were housed in pens equipped with GrowSafe feed bunks (Vytelle Sense) to record individual intake and rotated across pens every 14 d. Body weights were collected on d -1, 0, 3, 7, 10, 14, 26, and 27, and rumen fluid samples were collected on d 0 and 28 for pH analysis. The results of this study determined that there were no significant differences on final body weight (P 0.05) across treatments. However, rumen pH decreased significantly between treatments 0 and 30% (P 0.02). There were no significant differences between treatment groups for feed intake (P 0.05). In conclusion, CBW can be incorporated at up to 30% of the diet in mature beef cows without adverse effects on BW. These findings support the potential of food industry by-products as sustainable feed resources for beef production.