Growth performance of local chickens is improved when their diet is supplemented with 4% of yeast-fermented broken rice or 4% yeast-fermented cassava root

Tran Trung Tuan^1,2, Nguyen Binh Truong^1,2, Chau Hêne^1,2 and T R Preston³

¹ An Giang University, An Giang, Vietnam
tttuan@agu.edu.vn
² Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
³ Centro para la Investigación en Sistemas Sostenibles de Producción Agropecuaria (CIPAV), Carrera 25 No 6-62 Cali, Colombia

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the impacts of dietary supplementation of fermented starch (rice, broken rice and cassava root) on growth performance and carcass traits of local chickens. A total of 128 local chickens at 28 days old were randomly allocated into four dietary treatments: Control (without additive), FER-R (basal diet with 4% supplementation of fermented rice), FER-BR (basal diet with 4% supplementation of fermented broken rice) and FER-C (basal diet with 4% supplementation of fermented cassava root). Each treatment was replicated four times with 8 birds (4 males and 4 females) per each. The results showed significant improvement in daily feed intake, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio when local chickens were fed fermented starch (p<0.05). However, fermented starch supplementation did not affect the survival rate (p>0.05). Moreover, there were no differences among the treatments for the carcass characteristics of the birds when supplemented fermented starch into diets (p>0.05). It is concluded that the fermented cassava root and fermented broken rice added up to 4% in the diet had a beneficial effect on growth performance and FCR of local chickens.

Key word: local chicken, fermented starch, growth performance

Introduction

Broiler production had increased dramatically in recent decades and had become commonly farmed species; and accounted for more than 90 billion tons of chicken meat annually (FAO 2021). The increased demand for chicken had put pressure on producers to produce poultry with maximum output in the shortest time. Therefore, a wide variety of antibiotics have been successfully used at lower than therapeutic doses in broiler production to prevent diseases and achieve desired growth rates (Muaz et al 2018). However, the excessive use of antibiotics in livestock had led to antibiotic resistance in animals and humans; and the need for other effective therapies against bacterial pathogens because of the existence of worldwide antibiotic resistance had created urgent concern for livestock production (Agyare et al 2018; Mehdi et al 2018). Therefore, several alternative methods such as using probiotics, prebiotics, acidifiers, phytochemicals, enzymes, antimicrobial peptides and phages had been researched and developed in animal production to replace antibiotics as a growth promoter (Cheng et al 2014; Mund et al 2017; Sapsuha et al 2021; Rahman et al 2022).

Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) could be used to improve feed quality and enhance feed nutrient utilization of broilers. Yeast was considered as one of the live microorganisms that when introduced into the gastrointestinal tract had a positive impact on host health through its direct nutritional effects (Patterson and Burkholder, 2003). Saccharomyces cerevisiae had the benefits to the immune system resulting in a better against infections (Gao et al 2008). In accordance, Kaoud (2010) reported that supplementation of probiotic mixture including Lactobacillus sporogenes, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 0.5 g/kg improved growth, feed conversion ratio and carcass traits. Adding yeast to the broiler diets improved average daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, better nutrient digestibility, and immunity (Paryard and Mahmoudi 2008 and Raj et al 2023).

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of different sources of fermented starches including rice, broken rice and cassava root on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of local chickens, one of the popular free-range chicken breeds in rural of Viet Nam. The results of this study could provide an efficacy as a feed additive and optimize broiler feed utilization.

Materials and methods

The experiment was conducted at the experimental farm of An Giang University, An Giang province, Viet Nam. A completely randomized design was used for this study to determine growth performance and carcass traits of local chicken. A total of 128 local chicks at 21 days were bought from a private hatchery in An Giang province. They were randomly divided into 16 independent pens (8 broilers per each containing 4 males and 4 females) for adaptation in 7 days and then fed experimental diets until reaching 84 days of age corresponding to four experimental diets: control (basal diet without additives), FER- R diet (basal diet supplemented 4% fermented rice), FER-BR diet (basal diet supplemented 4% fermented broken rice) and FER-C (basal diet supplemented 4% fermented cassava root).

To formulate fermented starch preparation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain was bought from local shop. The number of yeast in the mixture was 15 x 109 cfu/g. Three kinds of starch using for fermentation were rice, broken rice and casava root meal. Rice, broken rice and cassava root were soaked in separate containers in water for 5 hours. 1kg starch soaked with 1.5 kg water. Then was added 5 g of yeast. The container was covered and kept for 7 days at room temperature (27-30⁰C). After fermentation, took out 40 gram of the mixture and mixed with basal diet and fed chicken. The birds were vaccinated against Fowl pox, Newcastle disease, Gumboro disease, and Avian influenza prior to the experiment. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. The basal diet was formulated to meet the nutrient requirements of broiler chickens in accordance with NRC (1994) (Table 1). Chemical composition of feed ingredients was determined according to standard procedures of AOAC (2005).

Photo 1. Fermented cassava root; fermented broken rice; fermented rice

Photo 2. Birds at the beginning; birds at the end

All birds were weighed weekly and total feed consumption and mortality were monitored. At the end of the experiment period, two birds (1 male and 1 female) were randomly selected for determination of carcass traits. The birds were subjected to 12 h of fasting prior to slaughter to determine the weight of carcass, breast, thigh, and internal organs such as heart, liver, and gizzard.

Data were analyzed by using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure of the Minitab 16.0 software.

Results and discussion

Growth performance

The results on Table 2 shows significant improvement (p<0.001) in most parameters of growth performance of birds fed diets with supplementation of fermented starch. Remarkably, birds fed diets supplemented with fermented cassava and fermented broken rice showed better results than birds fed fermented rice. Overall, fermented starch supplementation did not affect the survival rate (p>0.05), although the survival rate of birds fed fermented starch were quantitatively higher than that of the birds consumed basal diets only (Figure 1). However, dietary fermented starch supplementation improved significantly on average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (p<0.05) (Figure 2, 3 and 4). These data implied that birds consumed the amount of feed with fermented starch to gain body weight was significantly more efficiency than birds fed the control diet. In this content, the FER-C displayed the lowest FCR value than other treatments. Note that no deaths were recorded throughout the whole experiment in FER-C treatment.

Figure 1. Effect of different sources of fermented starch on survival	Figure 2. Effect of different sources of fermented starch on DM intake

Figure 3. Effect of different sources of fermented starch on ADG	Figure 4. Effect of different sources of fermented starch on FCR

Previous publications had shown that the addition of saccharomyces cerevisiae to poultry diets improved daily feed intake, daily gain weight and feed conversion ratio (Zhang et al 2005; Rafique et al 2017; Nabila et al 2017; Lawrence-Azua et al 2018; Shareef and Dabbagh 2009). Weight gain improvement can be resulted from efficient digestion and nutrient absorption (Oyofo et al 1989b; Newman 1994), improved healthy digestive tract (Bradley et al 1995), and better crude protein digestibility (Zhang et al 2005). These results confirmed the previous findings. Supplementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae improved growth performance of broiler by promoting the growth and development of the gut microbiota, especially the development of beneficial bacteria and also discouraged the multiplication of harmful bacteria, which may increase the availability of energy metabolism from the diet and improve the effectiveness of the immune response (Yang et al 2008; Mountzouris et al 2010). Furthermore, yeast resulted in better intestinal morphology and cell proliferation in terms of height and increased villi density (Lawrence-Azua et al 2018). Therefore, broilers use feed more efficiently for growth.

Carcass traits

The carcass characteristics affected by the addition of fermented starch are shown in Table 3. Live weight in chickens feeding fermented broken rice and fermented cassava root was significantly higher than that of the control chickens (p<0.05) (Figure 5). Overall, the fermented starch supplementation did not affect the carcass percentage of the birds (p>0.05), although the carcass percentage of the birds treated with fermented cassava root or broken rice were quantitatively higher than that of the birds consumed basal diet only (Figure 6). In addition, there were no significant differences (p>0.05) in breast meat, thigh meat, heart, liver and gizzard.

Previous publications had shown that the effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on carcass characteristics of chickens was diverse. The results are agreement with Linh et al (2021); Aristides et al (2018); Chumpawadee et al (2008); and Karaoglu and Durdag (2005) who observed that there were no differences in the percentages of carcass, breast, thigh; and liver, gizzard and heart weight of broilers fed on a diet supplemented Saccharomyces cerevisiae . However, Paryad and Mahmoudi (2008) reported that breast and leg percentage and internal organ weight of chickens were improved when broiler fed diets with saccharomyces cerevisiae supplementation at 1.5 and 2.0 %. Fathi et al (2012) observed that broilers increased breast yield when feed supplemented 1.5g/kg. The difference in results from these studies could be due to many factors (Shokryazdan et al 2017).

Figure 5. Effect of different sources of fermented starch on live weight	Figure 6. Effect of different sources of fermented starch on carcass

Conclusions

The data from this present study indicate that significant improvement in growth performance and FCR were achieved when local chickens fed diets supplemented cassava root and broken rice fermentation at 4%.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the material support from An Giang University

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