Vegetable-Based Feed Formulation On Poultry Meat Quality

Modern poultry production is based on manipulation of genetics and environmental factors that affect intensively farmed poultry. This includes feeding well balanced and hygienically produced feeds to highly productive lines of birds. Feed formulation involves combining different ingredients in proportions necessary to provide the animal with proper amount of nutrients needed at a particular production stage. Green leafy vegetables are rich sources of essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and the cheapest in terms of affordability and most abundant source of proteins. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the effect of vegetablebased feed on the nutritive quality of broiler meat. Fifty-day old broiler chicks were randomly distributed into two groups (25 chicks per group). One group was administered with experimental (vegetable-based) diet and the other group with standard (commercial broiler starters) diet. The experimental diet was formulated to contain the same composition with control diet substituting pumpkin leaves, pawpaw and banana in place of lysine, methionine and vitamin pre-mix. The trial-and-error method of feed formulation was adopted during preparation of experimental feed. Results from proximate analysis revealed a significant (P<0.05) higher crude protein (15.75 ± 0.14%) and moisture content (23.3± 2.36%) in vegetable-based formulated feed than the crude protein (9.63 ± 0.13%) and moisture content (16.7 ± 2.23%) of the control feed. The ash (10.0 ± 4.08%) and fat (2.5 ± 0.78%) composition of both the standard and vegetable-based feeds were found to be similar. At the end of 6-week treatment, there was no significant difference in the mean weight of birds’ organs (head, gizzard, heart, lung, small intestine, large intestine, upper limbs) examined. However, the weight of limb and lung of the experimental group were lower compared to the control group. The total serum cholesterol and mean fat content of heart, gizzard and muscles of the vegetable fed birds were found to be significantly lower (P<0.05). There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in plasma-protein and muscle protein content between the treatment groups. Nevertheless, birds fed with vegetable formulated feed exhibited higher rate of feed conversion expressed as muscle protein weight (118.2 ± 16.34 g) and body weight gained (7.1 ± 1.74 g) than control group muscle protein weight (90.3 ± 23.18 g) and body weight gained (4.99 ± 1.66 g). This study, therefore, indicates that low fat and high protein meat can be obtained from birds fed with the experimental vegetable formulated feeds.