Influence of fish and poultry based diets on mink pelt quality and skin and hair histology

In Nova Scotia the feeding of mink has been primarily based on waste and byproducts of the fishing industry. Due to a large increase in production numbers and significant reduction in the availability of traditional marine feed ingredients, the fur industry has increased the use of poultry industry byproducts in feed formulations for mink. Therefore, the objectives of this project were to investigate the influence of fish (herring) and poultry (end-of-cycle laying hens) based diets on mink performance and fur quality. Morphological characteristics of the skin and hair of the kit, summer and winter fur were examined using histology and computer image analysis. Feeding of poultry industry byproducts, specifically culled hen carcass mass, does not give rise to any major concerns regarding animal performance, fur quality and pelt development in comparison to feeding fish.