Effect of Acacia angustissima leaf meal on performance, yield of carcass components and meat quality of broilers

The study determined the appropriate levels of including Acacia angustissima leaf meal in broiler diets for optimum performance, carcass part yield, and meat quality characteristics. One hundred and fifty broiler chicks were allocated to 0%, 5%, and 10% A. angustissima leaf meal-based diets in a completely randomized design, with five replicates per treatment. Weekly feed intake and live weights were measured. Weekly weight gains and feed conversion ratios were calculated. At six weeks, two birds per replicate were slaughtered and dressed. Carcass and portion yields were determined. Breast proximate components, CIELAB colour variations, cooking loss and shear force were estimated. Consumer preferences for colour, aroma, taste, flavour and tenderness were determined. Voluntary feed intake (VFI), weekly weight gain, weekly live weights and feed conversion ratios (FCR) were the same across treatments at two weeks. At weeks 4 and 6, the control and 5% groups outperformed the 10% group. Increasing dietary leaf meal had no effect on dressing out percentage, but decreased carcass weight from 1456 g to 1060 g, breast yield from 36.83% to 32.69%, breast meat to bone ratio from 4.77% to 2.94%, and proportion of drumstick skin from 11.57% to 7.92%. It also resulted in increased yield of thighs from 14.63% to 15.97%, proportion of thigh skin from 11.50% to 14.31% and breast skin proportion from 5.37% to 7.95%. The leaf meal had no effect on the proximate components of breast meat. The L* values decreased from 53.66 to 49.23; the b* values increased from 12.93 to 19.97; shear force increased from 14.14 N to 14.54 N; and cooking loss increased from 5.95% to 7.64% with increasing leaf meal levels. It was concluded that up to 5% A. angustissima leaf meal inclusion has no negative effect on performance, yield of carcass parts and meat quality characteristics of broilers.Keywords: Breast, colour, cooking loss, shear force, tast

Prospects of quality protein maize as feed for indigenous chickens in Zimbabwe: A review

Indigenous chickens (IC) play an important role in African rural household settings, particularly in improving their livelihoods. However, IC production is characterised by low productivity due to poor quality and quantity of feed, compounded by poor management practises. This dire situation is aggravated by the fact that IC are raised under extensive systems, supplemented with meagre grain supplements. They are a hardy poultry species and as a result most farmers assume that their nutritional requirements can be met through scavenging. To the contrary, analysis of crop contents has shown that IC nutritional intake levels are often below optimum for production. To enhance the productivity of IC, there is urgent need to explore the use of alternative nutritionally rich feed stuffs. One of such ingredients is Quality Protein Maize (QPM). Quality protein maize contains elevated levels of lysine and tryptophan, compared to non-QPM. The objective of this article is to review the prospects of QPM as feed for IC, through a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. Due to its superior nutritional quality, QPM has the potential to enhance growth rate, carcass characteristics and immunity of indigenous chickens. However, QPM is still a new technology in Zimbabwe; most farmers are not aware of its existence. There is, therefore, need for policies and infrastructural adjustments to promote its widespread adoption. Furthermore, there is need for feeding trials as they provide concrete evidence of the benefits of this kind of maize.Les poulets \ua0indig\ue8nes (CI) jouent un r\uf4le important dans les m\ue9nages ruraux africains, en particulier pour am\ue9liorer leurs moyens de subsistance. Cependant, la production de circuits int\ue9gr\ue9s se caract\ue9rise par une faible productivit\ue9 due \ue0 la qualit\ue9 et quantit\ue9 d\u2019aliment m\ue9diocres, aggrav\ue9es par de mauvaises pratiques de gestion. Cette situation d\ue9sastreuse est aggrav\ue9e par le fait que les CI sont cultiv\ue9es dans le cadre de syst\ue8mes \ue9tendus, compl\ue9t\ue9s par de maigres suppl\ue9ments de c\ue9r\ue9ales. C\u2019est une esp\ue8ce de volaille robuste et, par cons\ue9quent, la plupart des agriculteurs pensent que leurs besoins nutritionnels peuvent \ueatre satisfaits gr\ue2ce au nettoyage. Au contraire, l\u2019analyse du contenu des cultures a montr\ue9 que les niveaux d\u2019apport nutritionnel en IC sont souvent inf\ue9rieurs \ue0 l\u2019optimum pour la production. Pour am\ue9liorer la productivit\ue9 des circuits int\ue9gr\ue9s, il est urgent d\u2019explorer l\u2019utilisation de produits de substitution pour aliments riches en aliments. Un de ces ingr\ue9dients est le ma\uefs \ue0 prot\ue9ines de qualit\ue9 (QPM). QPM contient des niveaux \ue9lev\ue9s de lysine et de tryptophane par rapport au ma\uefs non-QPM. L\u2019objectif de cet article est d\u2019examiner les perspectives de QPM en tant que source pour IC, \ue0 travers une analyse SWOT. Gr\ue2ce \ue0 sa qualit\ue9 nutritionnelle sup\ue9rieure, le QPM peut potentiellement am\ue9liorer le taux de croissance, les caract\ue9ristiques de la carcasse et l\u2019immunit\ue9 des poulets indig\ue8nes. Cependant, le QPM est encore une nouvelle technologie au Zimbabwe; la plupart des agriculteurs ne sont pas au courant de son existence. Des politiques et des ajustements d\u2019infrastructures sont donc n\ue9cessaires pour promouvoir son adoption \ue0 grande \ue9chelle. En outre, des essais d\u2019alimentation sont n\ue9cessaires car ils fournissent des preuves concr\ue8tes des avantages de ce type de ma\uefs

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions. © Copyright