Effect of using insect larvae meal as a complete protein source on quality and productivity characteristics of laying hens

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as a source of protein in layer diets on product performance, egg quality, hatchability, fertility, and sensory characteristics of eggs. The BSFL contained a high percentage of protein (559.9 g kg−1), metabolizable energy (696.3 kcal kg−1), crude fat (18.6 g kg−1), and dry matter (178 g kg−1) and a good balance of amino acids. A total of 54 Arabic strain hens at nine months of age were mixed with nine cocks at 12 months old; all were divided into three treatments. The diets were formulated based on three levels of energy-to-protein ratio: 155, 140, and 170. The BSFL meal was added at 0, 50, and 10 g kg−1 respectively. The results showed that feed intake, weight gain, Haugh unit, and hatchability were not affected by dietary treatments with BSFL. However, there was significant improvement in hen day egg production and hen house egg production due to dietary treatments of BSFL. Also, feed conversion ratio, egg weight, shell thickness, shell weight, egg yolk color, fertility, and egg mass were affected by dietary treatments. In addition, a significant improvement was observed in appearance, texture, taste, and acceptance of eggs of hens fed BSFL at 50 g kg−1. The odor was not affected by dietary treatments. Black soldier fly larvae can be a good source of protein in layer diets

Fatty acid profile in the breast and thigh muscles of the slow- and fast-growing birds under the same management system

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of feeding the same diet to different breeds of chickens and at different ages on fatty acid (FA) composition of the breast and thigh muscles. A total of 150 chickens comprising 50 each of red jungle fowl (RJ) and village chicken (VC), the slow-growing birds, and the commercial broiler (CB), fast-growing birds, were used for this study. Ten chickens from each breed were serially euthanized at days 1, 10, 20, 56, and 120 post hatch, and pectoralis major and bicep femoris were harvested to represent the breast and thigh muscles respectively. It was revealed that the breast muscle concentrations of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are significantly different (p0.05) between the breast and thigh muscles at different ages evaluated. This study suggests that slow-growing birds (RJ and VC) might be better sources of desirable FA than the fast-growing birds, CB

Effect of energy to protein ratio in starter diet with dehydrated food waste, superworms and unfertilized eggs on growth performance of village chickens

A study was conducted using 144 day-old chicks of Arabian strain village chicken to determine the effect of dietary protein and energy ratios in starter diets with dehydrated food waste, superworms and unfertilized eggs on growth performance in closed confinement system. Dehydrated food waste was the main energy source, superworms and unfertilized eggs were the main protein sources. Six experimental diets were formulated to have 3 energy to protein ratios (134, 150 and 164) with 150 energy to protein ratio as the control.. Every ratio had two different protein sources with the same inclusion level. Each treatment had 2 replicates with 12 birds each in a complete randomized design. Feed and water were provided ad libitum from 0 -42 d. Proximate analysis of the main ingredients in the diet showed dehydrated food waste had 4,500.54 kcal/kg of gross energy and 25.18% of crude protein while superworms and unfertilized eggs had crude protein of 46.54 and 46.33%, respectively. The study showed that a single diet of energy: protein ratio of 134 kcal ME/kg protein supported optimum growth rate of Arabian strain village chicken from 1 to 42 d of rearing. Feed conversion ratio improved with increasing dietary energy level. These findings have implications on ration formulation for village chickens in Malaysia

The Effect of Feeding Duration on Omega Fatty Acid Accumulation in Muscle of Village Chicken Fed Diet Supplemented with Flaxseed Oil

Village chicken is an indigenous chicken which is known to have lean meat and now becoming one of the important protein sources available in Malaysia. The demand for this chicken has also increased in recent years as people has become more health conscious, and value-adding the meat product may be an advantage to improve its functional properties. Thus, an experiment was conducted to determine the optimum feeding duration of village chicken fed with diet supplemented with flaxseed oil on the accumulation of omega fatty acids in the breast and thigh muscles. A total of 120 male village chickens were randomly assigned to 4 treatments with 5 replications and were fed omega supplemented feed for 3 different duration lengths. The chickens were fed isonitrogenous and isocaloric corn-soy based diets supplemented with 2% flaxseed oil as omega source for 5 weeks (T5), 3 weeks (T3), 1 week (T1), and a control diet (T0) without any supplementation of flaxseed oil for 5 weeks. The omega fatty acids, linoleic acid (omega-6) and alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3) were present in all breast and thigh muscles except for control breast muscle. Chickens fed with flaxseed oil for 5 weeks showed highest accumulation of alpha-linolenic acid in thigh muscle (85.74mg/100g). Longer duration of feeding with flaxseed oil resulted with higher accumulation of alpha-linolenic acid in thigh muscle. In the breast muscle however, accumulation of alpha-linolenic acid was found to be abundant in the 3 weeks (42.12mg/100g) and 5 weeks (40.39mg/100g) treatment. The linoleic acid content in both thigh (360.22–440.95mg/100g) and breast (177.78–221.55mg/100g) muscles however were higher in all feeding durations compared to alpha-linolenic acid. In this study, it was found that 3 weeks of flaxseed oil supplementation is sufficient to accumulate the alpha-linolenic acid into the breast and 5 weeks supplementation for thigh muscle of village chicken

The existence of Red Junglefowls (Gallus Gallus) in oil palm plantations in selected states in Malaysia and their morphological characteristics

An investigation was carried out to establish the existence of Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) populations in oil palm plantations and to study their morphological characteristics. This study which commenced from February to August in 2009 and 2010, took place in several oil palm plantations in the state of Johor, Selangor and Pahang, Malaysia. Twenty seven Red Junglefowls which comprised of seven adult males, six adult females, four juvenile males, three juvenile females, four male chicks and three female chicks were successfully captured throughout this study using the scoop netting method. The morphological study highly suggested the purity of the birds based on the characteristics exhibited. The birds were characterised by boat-shape body appearance, white or red ear lobe and slender greyish blue leg. Thus, this study offered some evidence that oil palm plantations are found to be suitable in sustaining and providing ample survivability for the species to exist in the future

Effect of soluble probiotic on production performance of Akar Putra chicken

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of soluble probiotic on the production parameters of local Malaysian chicken (Akar Putra). A total of seventy two 1-day-old Akar Putra chicks were randomly assigned to three treatment groups, each having 3 replicates of 8 chicks. The treatments were as follows: (T1) control, (T2) probiotic supplemented at 1 g/liter tap water, (T3) probiotic supplemented at 2 g/liter tap water. The results revealed that supplementation of soluble probiotic at both the rates resulted in an improved performance of male and female Akar putra chicken. Birds who received 2 g of prepared probiotic per liter of water (T3) exhibited highly improved (p<0.05) body weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio than other groups. It can be concluded that supplementation of prepared soluble probiotic would be economically beneficial in improving the production performance and health status of Akar Putra chicken

Impact of daily supplement of probiotic on the production performance of Akar Putra chickens

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of prepared probiotic (PP) on the live body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio in Malaysian chicken (Akar Putra). A total of 72 day-old Akar Putra chicks were reared for 12 weeks and randomly assigned to three dietary treatments (24 chicken/treatment), with 3 replications for each (8 chicken/replicate). The treatments consisted of a control group (T1), and the supplemented diet with probiotic in the second treatment was prepared at the rate 1:1 (1 kg of commercial broiler feed + 1 g PP). While the rate was 1:2 (1 kg of commercial broiler feed + 2 g PP) in the third treatment. Supplementing probiotic in both rates revealed significant improvement in terms of males' and females' growth rates, final live body weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Based on the research findings, the best results were obtained when chickens received 1 g PP in males and 2 g in females

Meat characteristics of red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus Spadiceus), Malaysian domestic chickens (Gallus gallus Domesticus) and commercial broiler

The meat characteristics of Red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus Spadiceus) and Malaysian Domestic chicken (Gallus gallus Domesticus), which are known as slow growing birds, were studied. Results were compared with those of the commercial broilers (ROSS) which are fast growing birds. The objective of the study is to determine the meat characteristics (pH, muscle fibre diameter and collagen content) of the breeds and the correlation to their meat quality. For this purpose, a total of 90 chickens (30 chickens for each breed) were used in this study. The chickens in each group were sacrificed at 20, 56 and 120 days posthatching. Findings indicated that collagen content, pH, cooking loss and shear force values in Red jungle fowl and Malaysian Domestic chicken were significantly higher P<0.05) than the commercial broilers. The smaller muscle fibre diameters and lower glycogen reserved contributed to higher pH. Meanwhile, the collagen content showed significantly (P<0.05) positive correlation to shear force and more prominent factors than the size of muscle fibre that determines tenderness of the meat. The commercial broilers’ meat is much tender than that of the Malaysia Domestic chicken and Red jungle fowl

Carcass composition in three different breeds of chicken and their correlation with growth performance

This study was undertaken with the aim to determine the carcass composition of three breeds of chicken and their correlation with growth performance. For this purpose, fifty Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus Spadiceus), fifty Malaysian indigenous chickens (Gallus gallus Domesticus) and fifty broiler chickens (ROSS) were used in this study. The chickens in each group were sacrificed at 1, 10, 20, 56, and 120 days post-hatching. The results showed that there were significant differences in the parameters measured between the high performance breed (commercial broilers), and the lower performance breeds (Red Jungle Fowl and Malaysian Indigenous chickens), although they were reared under the same environment and received the same feed, management and other facilities. Meanwhile, relative whole carcass weight, bone and fat weights in the commercial broiler were the highest compared to indigenous chickens and red jungle fowl at (p<0.05)

Effect of halal and non-halal slaughtering methods on bacterial contamination of poultry meat

This study was designed to investigate and compare the effect of halal (Islamic rules) and non-halal (non-Islamic rules) slaughtering methods on the quality characteristics of chicken. Ten village chickens weighing 0.9 - 1 kg of the same age and farm management were involved; five of them were slaughtered using the halal method, while the other five were slaughtered using the non-halal method by cutting only one side of the jugular vein and carotid artery. Bleeding time, death time, the volume of blood loss, microbial count of Standard Plate Count (SPC) and Coliform Plate Count (CPC) were determined immediately at and post-slaughtering. There was no significant difference in the microbial count of CPC between both slaughtering methods. Bleeding time, death time and SPC results for non-halal slaughtered chickens were significantly (p<0.05) higher than the halal slaughtered chickens, while the volume of blood lost was found significantly (p<0.05) lower for non-halal slaughtered chickens. These data suggested that non-halal slaughtered chickens could contain more residual blood in the meat that can lead to an increase in bacterial counts, consequently shortened shelf life