Poultry encyclopedia · NEXTEKCI School · Feed raw materials
Maize
Maize is the basic cereal in most poultry feeds: it supplies most of the energy. It is poor in protein, minerals and vitamins, and it fears moisture: badly dried or badly stored maize picks up moulds and aflatoxins.
Key facts
- Main role
- Energy (starch)
- Protein
- Low, around 8 to 9%
- Amino acids
- Poor in lysine and tryptophan
- Moisture in storage
- Well-dried grain, around 13 to 14% at most
- Main danger
- Aflatoxins (badly dried or badly stored maize)
What it is
Maize is the grain of the plant of the same name, harvested dry and then ground before going into the feed. It is the most widely used cereal in the world for feeding poultry, and it is usually the raw material that takes up the largest share of the bag.
Yellow maize contains natural pigments (xanthophylls) that colour the egg yolk and the skin of chickens. White maize feeds just as well, but it does not colour.
Its role in the ration
Maize is first and foremost a source of energy: its starch is very well digested by poultry. This energy keeps the bird alive, makes it grow and, in the layer, supports egg production.
On the other hand, it is poor in protein, and its protein lacks lysine and tryptophan. It provides little calcium, little usable phosphorus and not enough vitamins. It must therefore always be completed with oilseed meals, minerals and a premix, in a formula made by a nutritionist or a feed manufacturer.
Quality and storage
Good maize is dry and clean, without large numbers of mouldy, blackened or broken grains, without weevils and without a musty smell. Moisture is the enemy: above about 13 to 14%, the grain heats up, goes mouldy and picks up mycotoxins, especially aflatoxins. These poisons damage the liver, slow growth, weaken the immune defences and can kill; sun-drying or sieving does not remove them.
Maize is stored dry, sheltered from rain, in bags on pallets away from the walls, or in a watertight silo. It is protected from insects and rats, and it is only ground when the feed is being made: ground maize keeps less well than whole grain. A serious manufacturer checks the moisture of every batch and can have aflatoxins analysed.
In Côte d’Ivoire
Maize is grown in a large part of the country and throughout West Africa. Its availability and quality vary with the seasons: it is plentiful after the harvests and scarcer during the lean season. Maize harvested in the rainy season is often wetter and needs careful drying before it is stored.
Drying directly on damp ground, or storing it in heaps under a tarpaulin, encourages moulds. Maize that is well dried on a clean surface and then stored dry remains the basis of good feed. NEXTEKCI holds the official agreement for the manufacture of poultry feed.
Common mistakes
Feeding maize alone: it lacks protein, minerals and vitamins, and the birds grow badly or lay badly. Cracked maize can complete the finishing of a coloured broiler, never at the start and never as the only feed.
Buying damp or mouldy maize "because it is available", or mixing it with good maize "so as not to waste it": the toxins remain. Finally, replacing maize with another cereal without redoing the formula changes the energy and the colour of the feed.