According to an investigation published online in the Veterinary Record, UK organic turkey feed doesn’t contain enough vital nutrients required to help turkeys grow and develop properly.

The authors explain that the situation is more likely to get worse when the new European Union regulations come into practice in January 2012. These regulations specify that, instead of the current 95%, all plant ingredients in organic feed must have been grown organically.

Since it is not legal to supplement organic feeds with amino acids in order to provide the level needed of nutrients as found in standard feeds, they make up for this loss by bulking up the feed with protein.

However, as organic protein is expensive, manufactures of organic feed often choose cheaper alternatives, such as maize gluten which is not available organically, which under the new regulations in January will not be allowed.

The investigation details what happened when an organic feed, with not enough essential nutrients, was fed to a breed of turkey known as the Kelly Bronze on a singular farm in the South East of England. In comparison to white turkeys, Kelly bronze grow slower, so, theoretically there would be more time to make up for any initial nutrient deficiencies.

Within the first two weeks, more young turkeys died than would be expected. On their flight feathers white markings appeared within ten days, the birds grew unevenly and the mean body weight of the flock was below target, as a result of the organic feed.

When they examined the starter organic feed they discovered that the levels of the animo acid lysine were 17% to 18.5% below specification, and that methionine (another amino acid) levels were over 5% below specification.

Following this they added liquid lysine to the drinking water, and instead of starting the turkeys on a grower feed (which has a lower lysine content), they put them back onto their starter feed. Although the turkeys gained weight, they were unable to recover enough to make up for the initial lower weight gain.

The authors say:

“Although bronze turkeys are considered more suitable for organic production than other strains, in this case it would seem that there are still potential issues for these strains if their diets are deficient in essential amino acids.

The option for raw materials to alter the amino acid levels in organic diets are limited without the use of supplementary amino acids, and therefore the move to 100 per cent organic diets for turkey poults (young birds) is likely to result in more episodes of deficiency, even in slower growing strains.”

They highlight that Europe should take its lead from the US National Organic Program, which has allowed the used of supplementary amino acids in organic poultry diets, on the basis that, like plant source amino acids, they are absorbed and metabolized the same way.

Written by: Grace Rattue