Growth performance of free-range village chickens fed dehydrated processed food waste

The effect of dehydrated processed food waste (DPFW) inclusion in the diets on the growth performance (feed intake, body weight gain, body weight change and feed conversion ratio) of free-range village chickens was investigated. Food waste collected from 20 different restaurants of Universiti Putra Malaysia Serdang Selangor was processed into DPFW containing 89.3% dry matter, 16% crude protein, 7.1% crude fat, 3.7% crude fiber, 7.4% crude ash, 3.07% NaCl, 1.56% Ca, 0.87% phosphorous and 4053 kcal/kg GE. A total of of 180 village chickens of the Arabian breed were randomly allocated into four dietary treatments of 0 (control), 20, 40 and 60% DPFW for 5-9 week grower and 10-14 week finisher periods with three replicates (15 birds for each replicate). The results showed that the highest feed intake in grower and finisher phases was observed in the control group by 634.0 g and 2,722.1 g, respectively, while the lowest was in 60% DPFW with 586.3 g for grower and 2,542.6 g for finisher phases (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was elucidated between control group and 20% DPFW in grower and finisher periods of 630.7g and 2,707g, respectively (P>0.05). Body weight gain and body weight change declined linearly with increasing levels of DPFW of more than 20% in the village chicken diets during both grower and finisher rearing phases. FAR increased (P<0.05) with increasing DPFW inclusion (of more than 20%) during the grower period. Accordingly, higher amount of DPFW of more than 20% in the diets decreased the consumption of nutrients and metabolisable energy by the birds and consequently, the chickens grew considerably less, leading the birds to apply a higher amount of the dietary energy and nutrients for maintenance. Feed conversion ratio was only influenced by increasing DPFW by more than 20% (P>0.05). In conclusion it seems that the dehydrated processed food waste could substitute 20% of formulated feed in grower and finisher phases of free-range village chickens without any adverse effects on growth performance.