Abstract
Palm sugar solution diets that were offered to the Lorikeets contain high energy, low protein and rich in amino acids similar to nectar. The major components of palm sugar are sucrose, which has a sweet taste. The Lorikeets can detect energy-rich from the sweet taste of the feed. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of sweetness level and amino acid composition in palm sugar solution diets on feed intake of T. haematodus. The research method was completely randomized design arranged in a factorial with two factors. The first factor consisted of 4 types of palm sugars, i.e. aren, coconut, siwalan/palmyra, and nipah sugar with a different degree Brix in 13.5º, 14.0º, 14.5º, and 15.0º Brix.While the second factor consisted of two treatments, with and without the addition of the commercial baby biscuit. The results showed that the feed intake of Siwalan sugar was significantly higher than the other palm sugar solution diets. Siwalan sugar solution diet has high sweetness level, sucrose content and essential amino acid Lysine. This study provides the new information regarding the sweetness level of palm sugar and amino acid composition in the diet that can affect feed intake of T. haematodus. Therefore, this information will help to make a formulation of appropriate diet that meets the nutrient requirements especially amino acid for the birds.
Highlights
Palm sugar is called brown sugar or in Indonesia called gula merah because of its colour
Based on tested sweetness level using hand held refractometer, this study found that siwalan sugar solution diet has lower value degree Brix (14.5o) compared than nipah sugar (15.0°), but it has a higher value degree Brix compared than coconut sugar (14.0o) and aren sugar (13.5o).This is contrary to the general principle that the value of degree Brix is used to determine the sucrose content
According to Namroud et al (2008), amino acid metabolite levels have been reported to serve as signals to regulate feed intake through an appetite-controlling mechanism., In this study showed that the lorikeets were fed palm sugar solution diet still look healthy and have shined, brightly coloured and smooth plumage the same as reported by Prijono and Rachmatika (2019)
Summary
Palm sugar is called brown sugar or in Indonesia called gula merah because of its colour. Not all brown sugar called palm sugar since commercially brown sugars is often produced by adding sugar cane or molasses. Palm sugar is a natural sweetener with unique flavour and aroma as well as its nutritional content (Abdullah et al, 2015) that contain antioxidant compounds (Winarni et al, 2018). Sugar from palm sweeteners is mostly in the form of sucrose in addition to varying amounts of invert sugar present (Naknean et al, 2013). Invert sugar is the mixture of equal amounts of glucose and fructose (Yu et al, 2011). Sucrose has been accepted as a better energy source than starch in poultry diets (Hussein et al, 2016) since it can be utilized by poultry (Wang, 2014)
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