{"id":219074,"date":"2025-07-28T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T18:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=219074"},"modified":"2025-07-25T14:32:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T00:32:50","slug":"kalo-chicken-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/07\/28\/kalo-chicken-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Could kalo be Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s new superfood for chickens?"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

\"chicken\"<\/p>\n

High feed costs and a reliance on imported feed are everyday challenges for Â鶹´«Ã½\u2019s<\/span> poultry farmers. However, the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> (CTAHR<\/abbr>) at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa may have found a promising locally grown alternative: kalo (taro).<\/p>\n

Assistant Extension Agents Yunuen Bustamante and Melelani Oshiro\u2019s firsthand observations sparked interest in evaluating kalo as a viable feed. Bustamante raised poultry and small livestock at Kualoa Ranch before becoming a livestock agent for CTAHR<\/abbr>\u2019s Cooperative Extension arm.<\/p>\n

\"chickens<\/p>\n

“When I joined the CTAHR<\/abbr> team, a poultry farmer reached out to me asking, ‘Could my chickens eat kalo leaves and kalo corm?’ That was the first idea,” said Bustamante. “The second came from a kalo fest around the same time. I thought this was something that could be useful to our stakeholders.”<\/p>\n

Bustamante and Oshiro\u2019s dive into existing literature<\/a> indicated that kalo leaves offer a high protein content, essential vitamins, and are easily digested by poultry.<\/p>\n

“I think a lot of folks use kalo as feed for livestock because on your farm you\u2019re going to use what you have, but I don\u2019t believe there have been detailed studies about kalo as a food source for poultry here in Â鶹´«Ã½,<\/span>” said Oshiro.<\/p>\n

The review concluded that replacing 5–7% soybean meal with kalo leaf meal can help poultry grow, increase nutrition in their feed, and potentially save money for farmers.<\/p>\n

This work is part of CTAHR<\/abbr>‘s mission to increase the state\u2019s agricultural self-sufficiency and reduce its dependence on imported goods. By using locally available resources such as kalo, farmers can achieve greater resilience with culturally relevant ways to raise poultry and livestock.<\/p>\n

The next steps for Bustamante and Oshiro are to look into locally grown ʻulu<\/span> (breadfruit)<\/a> as feed for Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> livestock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new CTAHR<\/abbr> review suggests that locally grown kalo (taro) leaves offer a promising, cost-effective and nutritious alternative feed for Â鶹´«Ã½’s<\/span> poultry farmers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":219154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[222,212,1363,1314,73,9],"class_list":["post-219074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-agriculture","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-manoa-research","tag-manoa-sustainability","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t