225. Increasing Fresh Meat Levels with Spray Dried Plasma Addition Improved Palatability and Digestibility in Extruded Dog Kibble.

Abstract Pet food manufacturers extruding dry kibbles face challenges to increase fresh meat inclusion. When extruding high meat formulas, variation of moisture and fat of the incoming meat ingredients adds to the complexity to produce consistent quality kibbles meeting all specifications. To overcome the challenges, functional ingredients can be utilized to enhance product quality. Spray dried plasma (SDP) is a consistent high protein functional ingredient commonly utilized in wet pet food for water binding and fat emulsification characteristics and in dry kibble extrusion with meat meals and other dry ingredients to produce quality kibbles. The objective was to evaluate if fresh meat (FM) levels could be increased in extruded formulas utilizing SDP and its impact on palatability and digestibility. The test was done at the Bright Pet commercial production facility to evaluate if FM could be increased from 13% to 25% with the addition of 3% SDP added in the mash before extrusion using a single screw extruder. Processing conditions were monitored during production along with kibble outcome measurements such as percent cook, moisture, protein, and durability. Palatability testing was conducted with 20 dogs for a 2-day test. Digestibility was conducted with 10 dogs in a crossover design using two 10-d periods. Utilizing SDP allowed quality kibble production and similar bulk density with the higher FM inclusion of 25%. Final kibble parameters and quality were similar between 13% FM and 25% FM on percent cook (93.1% vs. 94.5%), moisture (7.24% vs. 7.5%), protein (30.7% vs. 28.7%), and durability (98.5% vs. 97.9%). Palatability was increased (P < 0.001) with 25% FM/3% SDP vs. 13% FM with an intake ratio of 81% vs. 19% and a consumption ratio of 4.24 to 1. Protein, dry matter, fat, energy, and ME digestibility were increased (P < 0.05) from consuming 25% FM/3% SDP vs. 13% FM. No differences (P > 0.05) were noted in fecal moisture, fecal score, body weight, or food intake between treatments. Overall, SDP included in the formulation allows for higher feed rate of meat inclusion to 25% with increased palatability and digestibility while maintaining durability and product quality of the dry kibble. Thus, depending on target meat inclusion rates, a functional ingredient such as SDP may be used during the extrusion process to produce quality dry kibbles with higher meat inclusion.