Fatty Acid Digestibility in Laying Hens Fed Yeast Culture

INCREASING quantities of supplemental fat are being used in poultry rations as a source of energy. As a result, numerous problems have been encountered under practical feeding conditions in handling mixed feeds which contain large amounts of fat. Maximum fat digestibility would require that a minimal amount of supplemental fat be used in a poultry ration to obtain the desired energy level. For this reason, it would be desirable to find ways to increase the digestibility of supplemental fat in poultry rations. It is known that certain emulsifying agents increase the digestibility of fat by both rats (Augur et al., 1947) and chicks (Fedde et al., 1960). Observations from the field and the results of feeding trials at the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station indicate that when Yeast Culture3 was added to rations fed to growing turkeys there was an increased growth rate. It was postulated that the increased growth might…