CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Can alfalfa be used to feed chickens?

Can alfalfa be used to feed chickens?

Alfalfa is used as a chicken feed additive, not as the main food. Using alfalfa powder in chicken production can improve the chicken's immunity and growth performance, body immunity, and chicken quality. It can improve egg production performance and eggshell quality, making the egg yolk yellower.

Adding a proper amount of alfalfa polysaccharide to the feed can improve the utilization rate of crude protein in feed for broilers, promote the digestion and utilization rate of dietary nutrients in broilers, and promote protein synthesis and growth of broilers. Adding a proper amount of alfalfa polysaccharide can improve the growth performance of broilers, promote the development of immune organs, and improve immune function.

However, the dosage should not be too high, otherwise it will prevent the broilers from digesting the nutrients in the feed.

Data show that limited-feed broilers combined with free-feed alfalfa have a significant effect on reducing the cholesterol content in meat when tested at slaughter, and the meat is more delicious. Adding high-trace element alfalfa meal to chick feed has a great effect on chick weight, improving feed conversion, and improving feed utilization and conversion rate.

Alfalfa hay feeding method:

When feeding chickens with alfalfa hay, the amount should be increased gradually from a small amount to a large amount, so that the chickens have an adaptation process. For laying hens, the amount is 4% to 8%, and for chicks, the amount is reduced accordingly. For broiler chickens, the amount of hay is generally 3% to 5% of the daily diet. Alfalfa is rich in nutrients and has a high yield, making it very suitable for large-scale animal husbandry. However, if it is directly used to replace corn to feed chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry, the poultry may not like it, and the feed is not suitable for long-term storage.

Feeding chickens with hay instead of corn is theoretically possible! The main difficulty is that alfalfa hay is not easy to formulate with other raw materials. Digestible energy raw materials require animal oil and may cost more. The crude fiber content of alfalfa hay exceeds the standard, and the quantity and cost of each raw material should be carefully calculated.

The grass powder obtained by drying the whole alfalfa plant by natural or artificial methods and then crushing it is called general grass powder. Compared with special grass powder, this kind of grass powder has a slightly lower content of available nutrients and is the main type used in production now. It can also be divided into several grades according to the content of nutrients.

At present, my country's feed resources, especially protein feed resources, are in short supply. Alfalfa powder can be used as high-quality protein and vitamin supplement feed, which is widely used in feed formulation for various livestock and poultry. It can not only provide necessary nutrients, but also has good effects in improving animal immunity, enhancing disease resistance and prevention, and maintaining and improving the good reproductive performance of breeding stock. Feeding chickens with hay powder in the dry grass season of winter and spring is low-cost, saves concentrated feed, and has good benefits.