A study of indigenous ingredients for poultry rations in the territory of Papua and New Guinea

Abstract

This thesis reports the results o f poultry feeding experiments using ingredients indigenous to or cultivated in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. Many of the materials examined have not been reported as ingredients for poultry rations previously. Those materials which have been so reported, have been examined further to ascertain if their use could be extended.The materials were tested in feeding experiments either measuring chicken growth from hatch to 19 days, 3 weeks or 6 weeks; or measuring egg production for a period of 6 months. The test materials consisted of grasses, plants, shade trees, weeds, by-products from tropical commercial crops, root crops, and seeds, all indigenous to the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.The test materials were fed to chickens in starter rations, and the chickens' growth rate was measured by weighing at regular intervals. It was found that meals of dried and hammermilled papaw leaf, passionfruit shell, Tephrosia, Townsville lucerne and water hyacinth could only be included in poultry rations to levels of 5 per cent of the total ration for optimum growth. Cocoa pod, Crotalaria, elephant grass and kikuyu grass meals could be included in poultry rations to levels of 10 per cent; and mango kernel, Centrosema, French bean seed meal prepared from either raw or cooked seeds, could be included in the diets up to 15 per cent of the total ration. Peanut plant, passionfruit seed, sweet potato and taro meals could be added to poultry rations in concentrations up to 20 per cent of the ration; and sago to 30 per cent of the total ration.A number of materials were added to chick starter, growing and laying hens' rations. It was found that 30 per cent whole peanut plant meal and 45 per cent sweet potato meal, when added separately to laying hens' rations, produced similar numbers of eggs to those produced by birds fed a control ration based on soybean meal and maize.It was known that some of the materials examined contained amino acids or alkaloids suspected of causing adverse effects on birds; for example, Leucaena, leucocephala contained the amino acid mimosine; cocoa, the alkaloid theobromine; coffee, the alkaloid caffeine; and Crotalaria, the alkaloid crotaline.It was found that mimosine per se, was not responsible for the slow poultry growth. It is considered that its palatability resulted in little of the ration being consumed by the birds. Coffee pulp was found to be unsatisfactory for chickens at all levels fed. The LD50 for caffeine (B.P.) was determined to be approximately 360 milligrams per kilogram bodyweight. It was established that birds could ingest amounts similar to this level when fed coffee wastes at a level of 5 per cent in the rations.