Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Hops & Poultry

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Hops & Poultry

    I wonder if feeding the recovered hops after the brewing process could have the same beneficial effect...

    RESEARCHERS INVESTIGATE HOPS FOR POULTRY
    UNITED STATES: University of Arkansas scientists find the herb – normally used in beer production – is an effective substitute for antibiotic growth promoters.

    University of Arkansas poultry scientists Dr. Susan Watkins and Dr. Park Waldroup have reported that hops, an herb used to impart a bitter taste in beer, can be an effective substitute for growth-promoting antibiotics in broilers.

    Working with Lloyd Rigby, a hops chemist from Yakima, Wash., and John Segal, a leading grower of hops in Grandview, Wash., Watkins and Waldroup conducted a feeding trial in which broiler diets containing either ground hops or a growth-promoting antibiotic were compared. According to the results of study, the ground hops improved early growth rate of broiler chicks and reduced the overall feed needed to produce a pound of gain. Although the response from the addition of hops was not as great as that obtained from the antibiotic treatment, it was significantly greater than that of birds fed the control diet.

    “Over the past several years, we have been exploring a number of alternative products for replacing antibiotics in broiler diets, including many herbs, spices, organic acids, and other similar products,” Waldroup said. “This is the first product we have found that resulted in performance improvement of this magnitude.”

    Waldroup added that additional work is needed to determine how consistent the response to hops might be under more stringent growth conditions and any effects on the broiler meat.

    “Many herbs and spices flavor poultry meat, and the fact that hops lend bitterness to beer might mean that it could possibly impart some off-flavors to poultry meat,” Waldroup explained. “We recognize hops primarily for their role in the brewing industry, and that is precisely the reason we felt that they might be beneficial in poultry feeds. They serve as an antimicrobial to keep beer from spoiling, and there are a number of U.S. patents relating to the use of hops as an antimicrobial for several food products.”
Working...
X