Abor Acre Research Articles

Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chickens Fed Diets Supplemented with Graded Levels of Roxazyme G®

The use of exogenous enzymes as feed additives is still undergoing a lot of research. A total of three hundred and sixty unsexed three week-old Abor Acre plus strain broiler chicken were randomly allocated to four experimental dietary treatments in a completely randomized design to evaluate the effect of Roxazyme on performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens. The diets 1, 2, 3, and 4 ® contained 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% enzyme supplementation respectively. The birds were fed the experimental diets for a 35-day period during which data were obtained on feed intake, weight gain, dry matter digestibility (DMD) and feed conversion ratio. At the end of the feeding trial, ten birds were sacrificed per replicate to evaluate carcass and meat characteristics. The inclusion of the exogenous enzyme did not significantly (P>0.05) improve the average weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and DMD. The dressing percentage of birds fed the enzyme-supplemented diets was significantly (P 0.05) affect the relative weights of the kidney, gizzard, heart and the liver of all experimental birds. The flavour, tenderness and juiciness scores of the meat of birds fed the enzyme supplemented diets were significantly (P 0.05) in toughness in agreement with the sensory panel result that adjudged the meat from birds fed enzyme supplemented diets as more tender (P<0.05) than that of the control. The breast muscle of the chickens had higher cooking loss than the thigh muscle while the highest (P<0.05) cooking loss was recorded for both muscle parts of birds reared on 0.2% enzyme supplementation.

The Thiocyanate Ion (SCN-) content of eggs from hens (Gallus domesticus) fed on a diet containing rapeseed meal.

AbstractThe antimicrobial effect of the lactoperoxidase‐thiocyanate‐hydrogen peroxide system has been recognised in milk and other biological fluids. In this study the main object was to determine whether the inclusion of 10% rapeseed meal (RSM) in layers' diet could enhance the levels of the thiocyanate ion (SCN−) in eggs to a level required by the LP system to promote bactericidal activity in egg products. Twelve ‚Abor Acre’︁ pullets were divided into two lots, separately housed and maintained under similar conditions. One lot was fed on a basal diet and the other on an experimental diet containing 10% RSM. Both diets were of known composition, isoenergetic and isonitrogenous. Throughout the feeding trials (15 weeks) a record was kept of egg productivity, individual egg weight and layers weight. Subsequently, the weekly‐lots of eggs were analysed for thiocyanate ions (SCN−) by gas chromatography. The colour of each yolk was measured using the ‚Roche Colour Fan’︁ and organoleptic assessments were made for the detection of trimethylamine taint since the feeding of RSM has been reported to influence these factors. No significant difference was recorded in the average weight of eggs obtained from both groups. However, egg production was 15% higher with RSM fed hens which lost a little weight. No taint was detected in either set of eggs and no significant variation in yolk colour was noted. After 4 weeks the levels of SCN− reached 1.6 mg kg−1 in the experimental eggs and then remained almost constant. The control set had an average of 0.5 mg kg−1 SCN−. Hence an enhancement of the SCN− levels can be achieved in shell eggs by incorporating 10% RSM in the layers' diet. This enhancement is of the order claimed necessary for the operation of this system.