The Impact of Adding Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus sp.) Peel Extract to Drinking Water on the Percentage of Carcasses and Offal Organs of Free-Range Village Chickens

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of adding dragon fruit(Hylocereussp) peel juice (DFPJ) to drinking water on the percentage of carcasses, and external and internal offal organs of free-range village chickens (White Gold &Lamcy). The study was carried out foreight weeks using a completely randomized design, which included 16 units (four levelsof DFPJ andfour replications of each, withfive birds per replication, for a total of 80 birds). The following treatmentswere given: R0: no DFPJ, R1: 5% DFPJ, R2: 10% DFPJ, and R3: 15% DFPJ in 1liter of drinking water. The variables observedwere: carcass percentage, and the percentage of external and internal offal organs.The results showed that the percentage of carcasses of the native chickens reared in free range were significantly different with the R2 and R3 treatments, while the R0 and R1 treatments had no effect on the internal and external offal organs of the chickens. It can be concluded that giving 10% or 15% dragon fruit peel juice through drinking water can have a significant effect on chicken carcass percentage, whereas using 5% does not have an effect.
 Keywords: carcass, dragon fruit (hylocereussp) peel extract,free- range, offal organs.