Evaluation of shrimp by-product for laying hens in smallholder systems in Thua Thien Hue Province

 

Ngo Huu Toan and Le Duc Ngoan

 

Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry

Hue, Vietnam

Abstract

 

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the utilization of shrimp by-products for laying hens under village conditions in Thua Thien Hue Province. A total  of 900 laying hens at 50 weeks of age and with a body weight of 2.09 to 2.23 kg, were allocated to 3 treatments and 3 replications, with the experimental diets formulated according to Vietnamese official standards. The basal diet contained maize meal, rice and concentrate (C200) while in the ensiled shrimp by-product (ESBP) diet, ESBP replaced 50% of the concentrate, and in the shrimp by-product meal (SBPM) diet,  SBPM replaced 50% of the concenrate.

The results show that replacement of 50% of concentrate by ESBP or SBPM had no effect  on rate of lay, egg quality, fertility and hatchability and changes in hen body weight.  Inclusion of shrimp by-product resulted in higher economic benefits  because of lower feeding costs and lower production costs / 10 eggs.

In conclusion, ESBP and SBPM can be easily produced, stored and used as a protein source for laying hens under village conditions.

 

Key words: Laying hens, ensiled shrimp by-product, shrimp by-product meal, egg production, egg quality, hatchability, economic benefits
 

 

Introduction

 

Poultry production in central Vietnam is still inefficient with respect to both egg and meat production (Hung et al 1997). However, raising backyard chickens is being successively developed in Thua Thien Hue Province (Hai et al 1997; Thanh 1997). Traditional  poultry diets, which are mainly based on maize, cassava and rice bran are very poor in protein, and fishmeal is very expensive compared to shrimp by-product. In the central region, there are 5-8 thousand tonnes of shrimp by-product produced every year (Vietnam Statistics 1999). Several studies have been performed in Vietnam on using this by-product for pigs (Lien et al 1994; Ngoan and An 1999), but not for chickens . Shrimp by-product contains 30 to 50% crude protein and is high in Ca and P (Ngoan and An 1999).  It is also high in axthasanthine, which improves  yolk pigment, and meets several nutrient requirements for poultry.

           

This study was carried out in Thuy Duong commune which is 8 km south of Hue City. The results are expected to provide a basis for recommendations for farmers, and would be easy to apply in practice.

 

 

Materials and methods

 

Treatments and experimental design

 

A total  of 900 Luong Phuong laying hens, at 50 weeks of age and  with a body weight in the range of 2.09 to 2.23 kg, were allocated to 3 treatments with 3 replications (households). Each household was allocated 300 laying hens randomly divided into three dietary treatment groups as follows:

• Control diet: maize meal and rice + a concentrate with fishmeal as the main protein source

•  ESBP: maize meal and rice, and with 50% of the concentrate replaced by ensiled shrimp by-product.

•  SBPM: same as ESBP but with shrimp by-product meal instead of ESBP.

 

The concentrate contained 46% crude protein, and all required minerals and vitamins. The diets were formulated to have similar contents of crude protein and metabolisable energy. Each replicate group of 100 birds was kept in a small backyard of around 300m², and all groups were given feed and drinking water ad-libitum. Data were collected for 21 weeks of lay. 
 

Diets and feed preparation

 

Details are in Table 1.

 

SBPM was produced by sun-drying shrimp by-product and then grinding it into meal. The ESBP was made by grinding shrimp by-product and mixing  with rice bran at a ratio of 1:1 (Ngoan and An 1999). The mixture was placed in either jars or plastic bags of 40 to 50 litre volume, sealed to prevent air contamination and left to  ferment naturally. Ensiled shrimp by-product was used in the diet after 2 weeks of ensiling. The silage was taken out of the container and mixed with the other dietary ingredients daily.

 

Measurements and statistical analysis

 

The number of eggs and egg weight were recorded daily by the farmers with the help of visiting technicians. Feed intake was measured weekly. All eggs were collected, tested for fertility and the fertile eggs incubated, and the numbers of hatched chicks counted. Data were analysed by ANOVA using the general linear model (GLM) procedure of Minitab version 12 (1998). Sources of variation were treatments and error.  Results  are presented as means with their standard error.
 

 

Results and discussion

Egg production parameters, feed conversion and costs

There were no significant differences between treatments for egg production parameters (Table 2). It was observed that the rate of lay tended to increase between weeks 53 and 63, and decrease from then onwards, which is consistent with the normal laying cycle. 

Table 2: Mean values for egg production, feed conversion and feed costs
	Control	ESBP	SBPM	SEM		Prob.
Egg production
Eggs/week/bird	2.72	2.96	2.96	0.07		??
Rate of lay, %	41.6	41.1	42.2	0.99		??
Broken eggs, %	2.79	2.54	2.56	0.49		??
Feed intake and conversion
Feed, kg /week/head	0.93	0.97	0.96	0.007
Feed /10 eggs	3.57	3.55	3.41	0.094
Feed cost/10 eggs	9,555	8,190	8,466	186

The proportion of broken eggs was the same between treatments, and was somewhat lower than is usual for commercial systems. Mean egg weight tended to increase during the first stage of the laying  cycle and then to decrease.  There were no significant differences in broken egg rate and mean egg weight between treatments. Feed intake and feed consumed per 10 eggs were similar between treatments. The highest cost / 10 eggs was for the control diet

Egg fertility and hatching rate

A proportion of the eggs laid was collected, tested and placed in an incubator. There were no treatment effects on egg fertility and hatchability parameters (Table 3), that were lower than in a previous study (Nguyen Duy Dat and Tran Long 1997), probably because a less efficient incubator was used.

 

Table 3.  Effect of diet on egg fertility and hatching rate (figures in brackets are percentages)
	Control	ESBP	SBPM
Eggs collected	638	663	664
Eggs incubated	606 (95.0)	629 (95.0)	630 (95.0)
No of embryos	482 (79.5)	509 (80.9)	501 (79.5)
Chicks hatched	433 (71.5)	458 (72.8)	450 (71.4)

Hen body weight changes

Table 4. Effect of diet on hen body weight changes (kg)
Months age	Control	ESBP	SBPM
12 13 14 15	2.11 2.08 2.16 2.26	2.23 2.07 2.24 2.44	2.09 2.06 2.40 2.49

Final hen body weight tended to be higher on the treatments with shrimp by-product compared to the control hens (Table 4). This is difficult to explain, as the feed intake of the control hens and the ME content of the control diet were somewhat higher than for the groups given shrimp by-product, and rates of lay were similar.  Mean body weight tended to decrease in the first four weeks of lay, and then increase, probably due to changes in climatic conditions and rate of lay.
 

 

Conclusions and recommendations

 

Replacement of 50% of a concentrate feed  by ensiled shrimp by-product or shrimp by-product meal had no effect on rate of lay, egg quality or hatchability, but did result in higher economic benefits for the farmers because of lower feeding costs.  As both shrimp by-products can be easily produced and stored they can be recommended for small-scaleegg producers whose farms are close to the shrimp factory.
 

 

References

 

Hai L T,  Tinh N H and Dung  L H   1997  Some technical methods for raising  backyard chickens. Agricultural Publishing House, Ho Chi Minh City, 1997.

 

Hung  N D, Thanh  N T  and Ly  N T H   1997  The result of poultry research 1991- 1995 and orientation in forthcoming years. In: Selected works of research on  agricultural science and economics of Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry  1967-1997. Agricultural Publishing House, Hanoi 1997.

 

Ngoan  L  D  and An  L  V   1999   Evaluation of shrimp by-product as pig feed in Thua Thien Hue province. J  Agric. Indus. Food, 2: 89-91.

 

Ngoan  L D   2000   Evaluation of shrimp by-product for pigs in central Vietnam. PhD thesis,  Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. Agraria 248

 

Thanh  N T  1997  Results on growth and egg production of some backyard chickens in  Thua Thien Hue. In: Selected works of research on agricultural science and  economics of Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry 1967-1997. Agricultural  Publishing House, Hanoi 1997.

 

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