Effect of replacement corn by brown rice on performance of chicken production in Vietnam

Mai Thanh Vu,My Thi Thuy Nguyen,Tuan Ngoc Minh Nguyen,Van Cao,Van Thanh Tran

doi:10.3329/ralf.v3i1.27868

Abstract

Rice is a major staple food in Vietnam in which brown rice has been recognized as a potential feedstuff for poultry but data on nutritional value of this feed are lacking. In this study the using of brown rice as replacement of corn in chicken diet was evaluated. The body weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were recorded. In total, 192 day old chicks of country breed (Ri lai) were used in this study. Chickens were divided into four groups and reared at same conditions for 12 weeks. The first group as the control group fed on 100% corn, second group fed on 75% corn and 25% brown rice, third group fed on 50% corn and 50% brown rice and the last group fed on 25% corn and 75% brown rice. The average body weight of chickens among all the treatments was 1.7 kg per bird which was not significantly different (P=0.44). The total feed intake of chickens (4-5 kg) was recorded without significant difference (P=0.23), however the feed conversion ratio were significantly different (P<0.05) between treatments. This study considered as the first report that demonstrates the usefulness of brown rice as a potential alternative of corn for chicken diet in rural areas in Vietnam, especially on the prevailing conditions such as during high price spell of corn.Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.3(1): 139-144, April 2016

Highlights

Vietnam is an agricultural country with around 70% of population living in rural area
This study considered as the first trial to examine the using of corn and brown rice for chicken feeding
This study showed for the first time that body weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency did not significantly differ when corn was substituted by mixtures of corn and brown rice in different ratios

Summary

Introduction

Vietnam is an agricultural country with around 70% of population living in rural area. The price of corn in Vietnam fluctuated from 0.35 USD to 0.5 USD per kilogram leads to impacting heavily on the production cost for farmers (USDA, 2015; Jonas et al, 2015, Luckmann et al, 2015). This might be ineffective if the rural farmers only depend on the corn in poultry production. Brown rice (BR) is among these rejected parts of rice production and has high potentiality for poultry production This kind of rice are usually available in the rural areas in Vietnam but still not effectively used. There has been no practical experiment done for chicken rearing in the rural areas

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