Effects of Probiotic (Lactobacillus spp) Mixed with Cassava Leaves (Manihot esculenta) on Growth Performances and Meat Quality of Cherry Valley Duck (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus)

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that had been used in poultry industry as alternative sources for antibiotic. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of probiotic mixed with cassava leaves (Manihot esculenta) on Cherry Valley Duck (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality. Lactobacillus spp. was used in this experiment to see its effectiveness in enhancing quality of cassava leaves as potential feed towards optimum growth performance of ducks like body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics and meat quality. 34 tails of Cherry Valley ducks aged 14 days with average weight of 500 g were randomly assigned to four treatments in triplicates. Treatments for the 35 days feeding trial were T1 at 0% probiotic + 75% commercial diet + 25% cassava leaves (control), T2 (0.15% probiotic + 75% commercial diet + 25% cassava leaves), T3 (0.30% probiotic + 75% commercial diet + 25% cassava leaves) and T4 (0.45% probiotic + 75% commercial diet + 25% cassava leaves) respectively. Proximate analysis was also conducted to determine nutritional content like protein, lipid, moisture, ash and fiber. Results show that supplementation of probiotic at 0.15% Lactobacillus spp. into 25% of cassava leaves and 75% commercial pellet gave highest body weight gain (BWG), low feed conversion ratio (FCR), highest carcass yield and good meat quality. It can be concluded that inclusion of probiotic at 0.15% in cassava leaves as duck’s diet gives good growth performance and may become an alternative super diet for duck in future

Proximate Composition of Larvae, Prepupae and Adult in Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens)

The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) is an insect species and able to convert low-value substrates is highly nutrient feed. Most of the aquaculture industry uses fish meal as a protein source in the diet of fish however fish meal was high in demand, price, and limited hence as an alternative the supplement protein should possess certain content to meet the role of fish meal in aquafeed products. Besides, a lack of research and studies on using BSF as a substitute in fish feed was noticed. This project aims to analyze the proximate composition in larvae, prepupae and adults were freeze-dried at -20°C, ground, and analyzed for proximate composition such as crude protein, crude lipid, ash, crude fiber, and moisture. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA to identify the significant difference in proximate composition in the three stages of BSF which are larvae, prepupae, and adult. As a result, the proximate composition revealed that BSF larvae possessed 32.3% crude protein, 26.7% crude lipid, 9.0% ash, 10.1% crude fiber, and 6.9% moisture while BSF prepupae contain 27.0% crude protein, 4.2% crude lipid, 10.6% ash, 8.6% crude fiber and 37.4% moisture also BSF adult have 52.6% crude protein, 15.6% crude lipid, 7.5% ash, 13.2% crude fiber and 25.6% moisture. BSF adult shows the highest crude protein content thus data was able to contribute more information on the nutritional value that potentially can be replaced in the diet of fish feed

The Effect of Garlic (Allium sativum) as Supplementary Feed on Growth Performance of Cherry Valley Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus)

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of garlic (Allium sativum) at the concentration of 0 %, 1% and  3% on growth performance of 27 Cherry Valley ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus). The ducks were housed in battery cages with 3 ducks per partition of cages with access to water and diets for 2 weeks adjustment period and later, 4 weeks for feeding trial. Proximate analysis like moisture, crude protein, crude lipid, crude fibre, ash and nitrogen free extract were conducted on feed samples prior to feeding experiment while body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, feed intake and mortality rate were parameters used to measure growth performances. Data obtained were analysed by using one way ANOVA of IBM SPSS Statistic version 22. Moisture and crude lipid showed significant difference (p < 0.05) among treatments. There were no significant differences of protein, ash, fibre and nitrogen free extract for all treatments. Sampling of growth performance parameters were taken every 7 days for 4 weeks. Body weight gain showed significant difference (p < 0.05) among all treatments. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) among all treatments in feed intake, mortality rate and feed conversion ratio. It can be concluded that feed supplemented with 1% garlic is suitable to improve growth performance of Cherry Valley ducks within 4 weeks of the feeding trial

Efficacy of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Larvae Meal as Feed on Growth Performance for Juvenile Javan Mahseer (Tor tambra)

Fish meal (FM) is a well known protein source for fish feed and its heavy utilization has contributed to overfishing that lead to increase price of formulated feed due to scarcity of fish resources for fish meal. Several studies were done to identify the best substitution of FM including Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae as a potential candidate for FM replacement. This study was done to investigate the proximate composition of Black Soldier Fly Larvae Meal (BSFLM) and to determine its efficacy as feed on growth performance of Javan Mahseer (Tor tambra). Three types of treatment were used namely F0 or control (0% BSFLM and 100% FM), F50 (50% BSFLM and 50% FM) and F100 (100% BSFLM and 0% FM). Each treatment was fed twice daily for 20 days to 10 Javan Mahseer with the average initial weight of 0.1g respectively. Analyses conducted was proximate composition and growth performance like specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio, survival rate and body weight gain. Data was analysed using One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) SPSS Windows 27. Results show that crude protein in F0, F50 and F100 were 37.52%, 30.36% and 27.52%; while F50 indicated best BWG (66.71%) and lowest FCR (3.16) respectively. It can be concluded that treatment 50% inclusion of BSF is the best ratio for good growth performances of Javan Mahseer

Effect of short-term bee bread on testicular cell development and testosterone level in male Sprague Dawley rats

Bee bread has been widely traditionally used for male fertility enrichment although limited scientific data are available on its effectiveness. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of bee bread on testicular cell development and testosterone level in male Sprague Dawley rats. In this study, 24 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were selected and divided equally into four treatment groups (n = 6/group) which were Control (C: 0 g of bee bread/kg body weight), Treatment 1 (T1: 1 g of bee bread /kg body weight), Treatment 2 (T2: 2 g of bee bread /kg body weight) and Treatment 3 (T3: 3 g of bee bread /kg body weight). The bee bread was administered daily and orally according to the designated treatment groups using oral gavage for 28 days. After 28 days of treatment, rats were euthanised and testicular cell development and testosterone level were measured. Results showed that rats in the T2 group had thicker (P<0.05) seminiferous tubular diameter (STD) than the control group and higher (P<0.05) seminiferous epithelial height (SEH) compared to C and T1 groups. The testosterone level in the T1, T2 and T3 groups was significantly higher (P<0.05) compared to control. In conclusion, this study suggests that supplemented with 2 g of bee bread per kg body weight is likely to give a positive effect by improving testicular cells development and testosterone level in male Sprague Dawley rats

Skeletal Deformities in Cultured Juvenile African Catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822)

Skeletal deformities in cultured fish are known worldwide and it had affected the survival, growth and appearance of the fish which contribute to production loss. Clarias gariepinus is known as number one farmed fish in Malaysia. C. gariepinus also effected in these deformities especially in cultured species. The objectives of this study are to identify the skeletal deformities that occur in juvenile stages and to compare the bone structure between the normal and deformed fish. A total of 50 juveniles’ fish were collected from Aquaculture Extension and Community Centre Machang, Kelantan. The juvenile was measured before undergo staining process. The fish were starved for one day then fixed in 70% ethanol for two weeks. The fish were then stained with alizarin red S for cartilage and Alcian blue for bone. The specimens were photographed in order to observe the deformities. The data showed only 13.0% juveniles have skeletal deformities, 10.9% with lordosis and 2.2% scoliosis. The cause of the deformities may be due to the heterogenous growth but other factors might also contribute to the problem. As the conclusion, the skeletal deformities observed in juvenile C. gariepinus were detected with the whole-mount staining method ranged from size 7.3 and 26.0 cm in total length. This study shows there is heterogenous growth rearing at low percentage even from skilled farm. Further study should concentrate on hidden factors that affected the deformity rate and mineralization of the juvenile fish

Drying Profile and the Mineral Content in Quality Determination of Kappaphycus Alverezii (Rhodophyceae) from Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia

This study was carried out to determine the mineral bioavailability of Kappaphycis alverezi in different solution and to obtain the drying condition for seaweed to achieve the acceptable level of moisture content of 40%.  Acetic acid, sodium chloride and water are the parameters used in the mineral availability analysis to see the percentage of solubility after been subjected using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Results showed that Kappaphycis alverezi treated with acid has a significantly increased in solubility of calcium which were 77.65, 63.64 and 60.02% respectively. In the drying experiment, the fresh seaweed and the commercial seaweed were dried in a cabinet dryer to study drying time to achieved the desired moisture content. The result based on drying showed that temperature have a significant difference (p>0.05) in drying time and the best drying temperature was 40°C in retaining the seaweed quality after the seaweed were subjected to syneresis analysis. The syneresis analysis demonstrated that 40°C had a lowest syneresis percentage which was 3.10% compared to temperature 60, 80 and 100°C at 11.51, 16.61 and 18.89% respectively. Proximate analysis showed that moisture content in Kappaphycis alverezi was 56.69% and ash content (26.34%), crude fibre (9.77%), protein (3.13%) and fat (0.67%). In dietary fibre analysis, by using enzymatic gravimetric method to determine the total dietary content in seaweed showed that seaweed can be classified as a high source of dietary fibre as the total dietary fibre obtained was 56.29 %

Efficacy of Aquilaria malaccensis aqueous extract supplementation on physical, behavioural assessment and growth performance of adult female Sprague Dawley rats

Aquilaria malaccensis leaves known as Karas leaves are widely used in ethno medicine. Recently, this plant has caught attention among manufacturers on its pharmacological values for human health. As there are limited studies on its toxicology profile, consumption of Aquilaria malaccensis at a higher concentration might have long term significant detrimental concerns that could affect the normal physiology and the growth performance. This study was conducted to evaluate the toxicity effects of supplementing Aquilaria malaccensis aqueous leaves extract as feed on physical, behavioural and growth performance parameters (Body weight gain, feed intake, relative organs weights’ and feed conversion ratio) in female Sprague Dawley rats. This 28-days oral toxicity study allocated twenty four (n=24; n=6 per group) female Sprague Dawley rats to four treatment groups that consist of Control (0 g Aquilaria malaccensis/kg body weight), T1 (1 g of Aquilaria malaccensis /kg body weight), T2 (2 g/ of Aquilaria malaccensis /kg body weight), and T3 (3 g of Aquilaria malaccensis /kg body weight). Results obtained from daily treatment of aqueous extract of Aquilaria malaccensis has shown that the selected dose, T3 dose had significantly decreased the mean of liver weight and increased mean weight of uterus when compared to the control group. Weekly food intake and body weight gains of the rats in all treatment groups (T1, T2, T3) did not vary significantly (p>0.05) when compared to control (C) group in week 1, week 2, week 3 and week 4. In conclusion, this study suggests that the higher daily dose of Aquilaria malaccensis, did not show any delayed toxicological indicators on behavioural, physical and growth parameters within the treatment period. Nevertheless, it is suggested that the usage of Aquilaria malaccensis aqueous extract at higher dose within a longer period should be administered carefully as it could alter the mean of the organs weights

Crustacean shell waste as a potential feed material

Crustacean wastes are waste products collected from marine industry. This review includes fundamental studies of crustacean waste such as protein, carotenoid and lipid including chitin and natural pigment named astaxanthin. Crude protein in crustacean shells like shrimp shell at 27.23%, crab shell (25.98%) and lobster shell (23.24%) are indicators that crustacean waste can be further developed as essential support feed in industries. Astaxanthin from carotenoid group is the most important property of crustacean waste that can provide red colour pigment besides acts as precursor for mechanism of vitamin. Astaxanthin is a natural source that can provide secondary protein source to livestock and fish as it can replace synthetic colour used today with natural pigment colour for ornamental fish that provides fancy skin colors that could increase market value. Extracts from crustacean waste too could provide benefits to pharmaceuticals industry such as source for cosmetics and health supplement. Astaxanthin in crustacean waste is also an immune system booster that contains high antioxidant. Natural astaxanthin extracts too has potential as an alternative colour source that could replace synthetic colors in feeds for ornamental fish