Search

The high content of fibre and antinutritional phytochemicals limit the utilization of Vachellia erioloba tree pods as nutraceutical feed additive for indigenous chicken diets. The pods can however be solid-state fermented using oyster mushrooms to enhance the nutritional utility of their spent substrate for the nutrition of the native birds. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of dietary incorporation of V. erioloba pods oyster mushroom spent substrate (OMSS) on growth performance, carcass traits, visceral organs, haemato-biochemistry, and meat quality including its fatty acid composition in Boschveld chickens. In a completely randomized design, 250 4-week old mixed gender Boschveld chicks were randomly allotted to 25 pens in which they were offered treatment diets (0, 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10% OMSS) each with 5 replicates of 10 for 12 weeks and then slaughtered. While there were neither linear nor quadratic effects of diet on overall feed intake (FI) (P > 0.05) and body weight gain (BWG) (P > 0.05), dietary incorporation of OMSS decreased overall feed conversion efficiency (FCE) (quadratic: P < 0.05) particularly in weeks 5 (linear: P < 0.05), 6 (quadratic: P < 0.01) and 11 (quadratic: P < 0.05) with no effects in subsequent weeks (P > 0.05). Also, OMSS induced no effects on all carcass characteristics, visceral organs, haemato-biochemistry and meat physico-chemical quality (P > 0.05) except for the increase in serum albumin (quadratic: P < 0.05) and bilirubin (quadratic: P < 0.05) as well as 24 h post-slaughter meat lightness (linear: P < 0.01), redness (quadratic: P < 0.05), yellowness (linear: P < 0.05), hue angle (quadratic: P < 0.05), and drip loss (quadratic: P < 0.05). Further, the spent substrate decreased meat myristic (linear: P < 0.01), palmitic (linear: P < 0.05), palmitoleic (linear: P < 0.01), and oleic (linear: P < 0.01) acids, as well as its total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) (linear: P < 0.05), monounsaturated FAs (MUFAs) (quadratic: P < 0.01), and n-6 PUFAs (linear: P < 0.05). Furthermore, it decreased the meat n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio (quadratic: P < 0.01), with meat from birds fed diets incorporated with 2.5% OMSS eliciting the lowest ratio of 3.63. In contrast, dietary OMSS increased meat stearic (linear: P < 0.001), docosahexaenoic (quadratic: P < 0.01), and tricosanoic (linear: P < 0.001) acid concentrations as well as its total saturated FAs (SFAs) (linear: P < 0.01) and n-3 PUFAs (quadratic: P < 0.01). In conclusion, dietary feeding of V. erioloba pods-derived OMSS enhanced meat nutritional healthiness without majorly altering its physico-chemical quality as well as growth performance, carcass traits, and haemato-biochemistry in Boschveld indigenous chickens. It is recommended for inclusion in indigenous chicken diets at 2.5% level., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Usage of soyabean meal (SBM) in broiler diets is economically and environmentally unsustainable thus necessitating investigation of alternative protein sources. Therefore, this study investigated effects of incremental inclusion levels of Mucuna pruriens utilis seed meal (MSM) for partial substitution of SBM in broiler diets. In a completely randomized design (CRD), 400 day-old Ross 308 chicks were allotted to 5 iso-caloric-nitrogenous MSM-containing (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20%) dietary treatments. Each treatment was replicated 8 times, with each pen having 10 birds, during starter (d1 - 14), grower (d15 - 28), and finisher (d29 - 42) phases. Results showed that dietary MSM decreased feed intake (FI: quadratic: P < 0.001), body weight gain (BWG: linear: P < 0.001), and feed conversion efficiency (FCE: linear: P < 0.001) as it linearly decreased slaughter weight (SW: P < 0.001), hot carcass weight (HCW: P < 0.001), cold carcass weight (CCW: P < 0.001), dressing percentage (P < 0.001), and breast weight (P < 0.05). In contrast, dietary MSM linearly increased the weights of the liver (P < 0.01), proventriculus (P < 0.001), gizzard (P < 0.001), duodenum (P = 0.01), jejunum (P < 0.001), ileum (P < 0.001), caecum (P < 0.01), and colon (P < 0.01). Also, dietary MSM quadratically increased blood heterophils (P < 0.05) and alkaline phosphatase activity (P < 0.05) of the chickens whilst linearly increasing their serum amylase (P = 0.001) and lipase (P = 0.001) activities and linearly decreasing their serum symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA: P = 0.001) and cholesterol (P < 0.05). Further, dietary MSM linearly decreased chicken breast meat ultimate pH (P < 0.05) whilst linearly increasing its cooking loss (P < 0.01), drip loss (P < 0.05) and shear force (P < 0.01). In conclusion, dietary MSM compromised growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of broilers as it increased the weights of their digestive-metabolic organs., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study investigated marula seed cake (MSC) as alternative protein source (APS) replacing soyabean meal (SBM) in indigenous chicken diets. Four hundred, 3-week-old Boschveld chicks were randomly allocated to 5 iso-energetic-nitrogenous maize and SBM-based grower diets with 0, 10, 15, 20, and 25 % MSC, each with 5 replicate pens of 16 birds, in a completely randomised design (CRD), for 9 weeks. Results showed that dietary MSC quadratically decreased bird overall feed intake (FI) ( P < 0.001) and body weight gain (BWG) ( P < 0.01) as it linearly decreased the weights of hot carcass (HCW; P < 0.05), spleen ( P < 0.05), jejunum ( P < 0.05), ileum ( P < 0.001), and caecum ( P < 0.001). In contrast, MSC increased chicken serum glucose ( P < 0.05), cholesterol ( P = 0.001) and phosphate ( P < 0.05) as it decreased its amylase activity ( P < 0.01). Also, it decreased bird meat lightness at 45 min ( P < 0.05) and its yellowness at 45 min ( P < 0.001) and 24 h ( P < 0.001) whilst it increased its redness at 45 min ( P < 0.01) and 24 h ( P < 0.05) post-slaughter. In addition, MSC decreased chicken bone medial diaphysis ( P < 0.05) as it induced no effects ( P > 0.05) on overall feed conversion efficiency (FCE) and all other parameters. In conclusion, feeding of ≤ 15 % dietary MSC is nutritionally safe for indigenous chickens whilst detrimental on bird appetite, growth and meat yield, however without significantly affecting their physiology, at higher inclusion levels., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflict of interest., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

This study investigated ameliorative effects of dietary oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) spent substrate (OMSS) in broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with combined marula seed cake (MSC) and mucuna seed meal (MSM) replacing soya bean meal (SBM). In a completely randomised design (CRD), 400 day-old Ross 308 chicks were randomly allocated to 5 iso-nitrogenous-energetic diets (control with 100% SBM, control with 60% MSC and 40% MSM replacing SBM (MSC + MSM), MSC + MSM with 1.25% OMSS, MSC + MSM with 2.5% OMSS, and MSC + MSM with 5% OMSS) each with 8 replicate pens of 10 during starter, grower and finisher phases. Dietary MSC + MSM decreased (P < 0.001) feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG), and feed conversion efficiency (FCE); slaughter weight, hot carcass weight (HCW), cold carcass weight (CCW), breast weight, and back lengths (P < 0.001); serum SDMA and alanine transaminase (P < 0.05). In contrast, it increased the weights of the thigh (P < 0.001), wing (P < 0.01), liver (P < 0.001), proventriculus (P < 0.001), gizzard (P < 0.001), duodenum (P < 0.001), jejunum (P < 0.001), ileum (P < 0.001), and caecum (P < 0.01) and serum alkaline phosphatase (P < 0.05) and cholesterol (P < 0.01). Further, it increased meat redness and decreased its hue angle at 45 min post-slaughter (P < 0.01) whilst it decreased its pH (P < 0.01) and increased its shear force (P < 0.05) at 24 h post-slaughter. Compared to higher levels, low (1.25%) dietary OMSS improved, though limitedly, FI, BWG, and FCE at grower and finisher phases only (P < 0.001) whilst it reversed MSC plus MSM-induced deleterious effects on slaughter weight, HCW, and CCW (P < 0.001) and increases in gizzard weight (P < 0.001) and meat shear force at 24 h post-slaughter (P < 0.05). Otherwise, OMSS generally decreased (P < 0.05) serum SDMA and alanine transaminase whilst it abrogated and augmented increases in serum alkaline phosphatase (P < 0.05) and cholesterol (P < 0.01), respectively, and reversed the increase and decrease in meat redness (P < 0.01) and hue angle (P < 0.05), respectively. In conclusion, dietary replacement of SBM with combined MSC plus MSM induced deleterious effects in broiler chickens that were limitedly abrogated by low (1.25%) inclusion level of OMSS., (© 2024. The Author(s).)