Hawaiian producers try island-grown taro in poultry feed

Hawaiian poultry feed might benefit from a tropical twist in the form of locally grown taro roots or leaves, according to extension agents from University of Hawaii at Mānoa.

Yunuen Bustamante, an assistant livestock extension agent at the university, said they conducted a literature review after being approached by some local farming associations that asked whether taro byproducts could be used as livestock feed. Bustamante and her colleague Melelani Oshiro, an associated livestock extension agent, had both seen farmers feed extra taro or taro leaves to backyard chickens or pigs.