July 11, 2011

Egypt concludes sorghum trials for poultry feed

The US Grains Council (USGC) has successfully completed two sorghum feeding trials in Egypt to demonstrate the use of non-tannin sorghum in broiler feed rations and to assess the nutrition value based on actual Egyptian conditions.

"These results mean that expansion in the use of sorghum in broiler rations in Egypt will depend entirely on the economic benefits of sorghum versus other feed grains," concludes Dr Hussein Soliman, director of the Council's Egyptian program.

Egypt has never imported sorghum, and there is little knowledge among livestock and poultry producers about the benefits of non-tannin sorghum in feed rations.

Egypt's domestic sorghum production is of the tannin variety, and is only used for human consumption.

However, in an effort to lower feed and production costs, the Egyptian government is looking for ways to diversify the number of ingredients available to producers.

With the successful completion of the trials, Egypt will start following the sorghum market and the Council anticipates that Egyptians will begin purchasing US sorghum when the time is right.

The US is the only place to go if Egyptian users want non-tannin sorghum, distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS), or corn gluten, Dr Soliman explained.

"They aren't likely to fill a whole ship with any one of these products, so they will be looking for other commodities that the US can provide, such as corn and soy, to fill the remainder of the ship."