The turkey field-research site in UMore Park - a property intended to house more of the University's research facilities - has five barns that serve as testing grounds for about 7,600 gobblers.

Extension poultry specialist Sally Noll said that among other things, researchers are looking at feeding distilled corn to turkeys.

Distilled corn comes from ethanol production, which extracts starch and sugar from corn, and the remaining byproduct can be fed to turkeys.

Noll said while distilled corn is less nutritious, turkeys can still have a diet of up to 30 percent of the ethanol byproduct.

The research is important to the state because Minnesota is the largest turkey producer in the country, supplying 46 million birds each year, Noll said.

"Turkey production is really important to the state economically," Noll said. "We need to be involved in terms of helping the industry solve some of its problems."