Meat Quality of Thai Indigenous Chickens Raised Indoors or with Outdoor Access

International audience(Cass. com., 7 juin 2006, Mme Marchand c/ Banque calédonienne d'investissement, pourvoi n° 04-17.374, arrêt n° 734 F-D

Assessment of lactic acid bacteria isolated from the chicken digestive tract for potential use as poultry probiotics

Objective The use of probiotics as an alternative to antibiotics in animal feed has received considerable attention in recent decades. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have remarkable functional properties promoting host health and are major microorganisms for probiotic purposes. The aim of this study was to characterize LAB strains of the chicken digestive tract and to determine their functional properties for further use as potential probiotics in poultry. Methods A total of 2,000 colonies were isolated from the ileum and cecal contents of the chickens based on their phenotypic profiles and followed by a preliminary detection for acid and bile tolerance. The selected 200 LAB isolates with exhibited well-tolerance in acid and bile conditions were then identified by sequencing the 16S rDNA gene, followed by acid and bile tolerance, antimicrobial activity, adhesion to epithelial cells and additional characteristics on the removal of cholesterol. Then, the two probiotic strains (L. ingluviei and L. salivarious) which showed the greatest advantage in vitro testing were selected to assess their efficacy in broiler chickens. Results It was found that 200 LAB isolates that complied with all measurement criteria belonged to five strains, including L. acidophilus (63 colonies), L. ingluviei (2 colonies), L. reuteri (58 colonies), L. salivarius (72 colonies), and L. saerimneri (5 colonies). We found that the L. ingluviei and L. salivarius can increase the population of LAB and Bifidobacterium spp. while reducing Enterobacteria spp. and Escherichia coli in the cecal content of chickens. Additionally, increased concentrations of valeric acid and short chain fatty acids were also observed. Conclusion This study indicates that all five Lactobacillus strains isolated from gut contents of chickens are safe and possess probiotic properties, especially L. ingluviei and L. salivarius. Future studies should evaluate the potential for growth improvement in broilers

Evaluation of various feeding programmes on growth performance, carcass and meat qualities of Thai indigenous crossbred chickens

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of various feeding programmes on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and the meat qualities of Thai indigenous crossbred (50%) Korat chickens to obtain suitable feeding programmes. A total of 480 one-day-old mixed-sex Korat chickens were randomly allotted to four treatments, namely FP1, FP2, FP3 and FP4, with four replicates for each treatment (30 birds per replicate) in a completely randomized design. Chickens in FP1 were fed diets with 21, 19, 17 and 15% crude protein (CP) in periods of 0–3, 3–6, 6–9 and 9–13 weeks old, respectively. Chickens in FP2 were fed diets with 21, 19, 17 and 15% CP in periods of 0–3, 3–5, 5–7 and 7–13 weeks old, respectively. Chickens in FP3 were fed diets with 21, 19, 17, 15 and 14% CP in periods of 0–2, 2–5, 5–8, 8–10 and 10–13 weeks old, respectively. Chickens in FP4 were fed diets with 21, 19, 17, 15 and 14% CP in periods of 0–2, 2–4, 4–6, 6–8 and 8–13 weeks old, respectively. At 13 weeks old, the results showed that Korat chickens fed with FP4 had a higher feed intake, but poorer feed conversion rate (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), and energy efficiency ratio (EER) values than the FP1, FP2 and FP3 treatments. However, the values for bodyweight gain and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) did not differ among treatments. None of the parameters for carcass traits, meat characteristics, and meat qualities revealed differences among treatments, except for the protein content in the thigh meat of chickens fed with FP4, which had a lower value than that of the other treatments. In conclusion, FP3 represented the most beneficial results for reducing feed costs without affecting growth performance, carcass traits, nutrient composition of meat, and meat characteristics of chickens.Keywords: carcass trait, growth, indegenous crossbred chicken, meat yield, protein leve

Effect of Shrimp Meal on Growth Performance and Digestibility in Growing Broilers

In order to use shrimp meal (SM) made from headless black tiger shrimp waste as a protein source for poultry diets, chemical composition of SM and growth performance, dry matter (DM) digestibility and nitrogen (N) retention in broilers given diets containing SM ranged from 0% to 16% were measured. Comparing with the data in the previous reports, SM used in the present study was rich in fiber and ash, hence poor in CP. Amino acid profiles revealed that SM had lower concentration of methionine+cysteine, lysine, isoleucine, leucine, tryptophane than soybean meal. The results of orthogonal polynomials revealed that body weight gain, feed intake, feed efficiency, DM digestibility and N retention decreased with increasing levels of SM and the results of ANOVA showed that, in most case, these parameters did not change significantly when SM level was at and below 8%. However, these parameters in birds given 8% SM diets did not differ from those in birds given 12% and 16% SM diets. Taking this into account, the safer level to add SM to a broiler diet seems to be 4%. Decreased body weight gain may be resulted from decreased feed intake, feed efficiency and DM digestibility. In conclusion, it is suggested that SM can be used as a protein source in a broiler diet as far as it is included at and below 4%