High Levels of Alfalfa Meal in Diets for Chickens

THE results of experiments previous to those of Alder (1946) indicated that mashes fed to poultry should contain only rather small quantities of alfalfa meal. The common opinion was that its fiber content prevented the advantageous inclusion of more than 5 to 7½ percent in mashes for either growing or laying chickens. However, the data of Alder (1946) showed that mashes for turkeys fed a mash-grain diet could contain as much as 30 or 35 percent alfalfa meal without adversely affecting their weight or feed consumption per pound of gain by the time they were 29 weeks old. These data apparently stimulated new investigations at several experiment stations to determine the maximum level at which alfalfa meal can be included safely in mashes for chickens. Cooney and associates (1948) reported the results of an experiment in which dehydrated alfalfa meal at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 percent levels . . .