WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA, US — NutraMaize, an agriculture company whose nutritionally enhanced orange corn is currently marketed through a line of premium milled products under the brand Professor Torbert’s Orange Corn, has received a two-year, $650,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to demonstrate the health and pigmentation benefits of feeding orange corn to poultry on a commercial scale.

Evan Rocheford, chief executive officer of NutraMaize, said a previous Phase I SBIR grant from the USDA funded proof-of-concept studies showed NutraMaize Orange Corn improves outcomes in poultry health and egg yolk pigmentation. The results were published in the May 2021 issue and July 2021 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Poultry Science.

“Our previous research shows that when used in poultry feed, NutraMaize Orange Corn has the potential to improve animal welfare, consumer well-being and producer profitability,” Rocheford said. “We’ve shown that it can reduce the incidence and severity of footpad dermatitis, a common health problem for poultry, and significantly enhance the depth of color and health-benefiting antioxidant carotenoid content in egg yolks.”

The goal of the Phase II project, titled “Nutritionally Enhanced Orange Corn: A Natural Domestic Source of Antioxidant Carotenoids for Improved Poultry and Consumer Well-Being,” is to demonstrate that the corn can deliver the health benefits of carotenoids to poultry and consumers on a commercial scale. Carotenoids are natural antioxidant pigments that give many fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, their orange color and health-benefiting reputations.

Rocheford said the project has three primary objectives that aim to demonstrate NutraMaize Orange Corn can provide value to the poultry industry at scale:

• That it can produce a number of economically relevant health benefits for both broilers and egg layers throughout their production cycles.
• That it can enhance the nutritional, visual and functional properties of both poultry meat and eggs.
• That it can meet the needs of the poultry industry by being produced efficiently and affordably.

To achieve these objectives, NutraMaize will work with Darrin Karcher, associate professor of animal sciences in Purdue University’s College of Agriculture, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s National Poultry Research Center in Athens, Georgia, US. This team will conduct research studies at Purdue’s Animal Sciences Research and Education Center and partner with grain farmers and commercial poultry producers to conduct field studies.

Rocheford said the company is looking for more producers to partner with to conduct commercial trials over the coming years.