Six hundred Kabir broiler chickens were raised for 12 weeks in three pens with bedding of dried rice straw to produce chicken litter. After the 84 days, the chicken litter in all the pens was collected for preservation. Half of it was dried under sunlight and the rest ensiled with sweet potato vines (57) and molasses (3) (% fresh basis) for 6 weeks. Chicken litter in the dried and ensiled form was analysed for DM degradability by the in sacco method in comparison with untreated and urea-treated rice straw. Ten chickens were kept in a wire cage with plastic sheet under the cage to collect the droppings (excreta and waste feed) in order to investigate the effect of the age of the chickens on production and chemical composition of the droppings.
Four local cattle of 100 to 120 kg live weight were used for a feeding trial according to a Latin square design with four 56 day periods and 4 treatments. The cattle were fed ad libitum untreated rice straw (RS), sun-dried rice straw / chicken litter (RSCL), sun-dried rice straw / chicken litter + 3% molasses (RSCLM) and ensiled rice straw-chicken litter (RSCLMSP). Animals in all treatments were given a daily supplement of 2 kg fresh cassava peel and 0.5 kg of a mixture (56% cassava meal + 18% groundnut cake + 25% rice bran) in two equal meals in the morning and evening.
On average, dropping production was 6.5 kg per head In the whole trial period of 84 days. DM decreased and nitrogen content in droppings increased slightly with age of chickens. Adding 3% molasses, or ensiling the rice straw-chicken litter with sweet potato vine and molasses, improved DM degradation in the rumen in comparison with urea-treated and untreated rice straw and increased feed intake and growth performance of local cattle.
In
recent years, the poultry industry in
Many researches have shown that
poultry excreta and poultry litter are valuable feeds for ruminants (Noland et
al 1955; Fontenot et al 1971) and feeding of poultry excreta to ruminants has
been widely practiced and studied (Hadjipanayiotou et al 1993). A major
obstacle in giving poultry excreta and poultry litter to livestock is the
danger of pathogenic organisms and the unattractive smell. Drying the litter
lowers the
nitrogen content and results in higher costs (Roothaert and Matthewman 1992). Dry matter
intake of cattle fed chicken litter based on rice straw had a tendency to decrease
compared with intake of urea-treated rice straw (Tran Quoc Viet et al 2000).
The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of chicken age and preservation methods on the chemical composition of chicken litter and on the intake and growth performance of local cattle fed rice straw-based chicken litter as the main feed resource in the dry season.
·
Chemical composition of
rice straw-chicken litter will vary with the age of the chickens.
·
Ensiling
of rice straw chicken litter with sweet potato foliage and molasses is a better
method to improve DM degradability in the rumen and intake of chicken
litter by local cattle.
The production and processing of the chicken litter, and the feeding trial with cattle was carried out at the Animal Breeding Station of the Agricultural Extension Department of Quoc Oai district of Hatay province. The in sacco study of rumen degradability was conducted at the National Institute of Animal Husbandry.
Six hundred one-day-old Kabir chickens were raised on the floor in three pens with 3 cm depth of chopped dried rice straw as initial layer of litter. Every two weeks, before scattering a new layer of rice straw, samples of litter were collected from different places of the original layer for analysis. The duration of the feeding period was 84 days.
To investigate effect of age of chickens on droppings (excreta and wasted feed) production and chemical composition, ten chickens were selected from each pen and kept in a small wire cage from 1 to 84 days of age, to collect droppings daily. For this purpose, a plastic sheet was put below each cage.
After the raising period, all the chicken litter from the three pens was collected and half of it dried under sunlight to reach a moisture content of 12 to14%. The rest of the litter was ensiled with chopped fresh potato vine and molasses in the ratio of 40% of litter, 57% sweet potato vine and 3% molasses (fresh basis). The silage was prepared in an underground pit, the floor and sides being covered with polyethylene sheets. A polyethylene sheet and then a layer of soil was use to cover the ensiled mass. Preparation of the silage was completed in one day. After 6 weeks of fermentation, the silo was opened and the contents offered to the cattle.
The samples of litter taken during the raising of the chickens were dried in a forced-air oven to facilitate milling. Samples of the ensiled mixture after 42 days of fermentation were treated in the same way. One portion of each sample was milled in a hammer mill through a 10 mm sieve for analysis; the rest was ground though a 2.5 mm screen and used for the in sacco procedure.
The rumen degradation of the samples was determined by incubating the nylon bags in the rumen of three fistulated local cattle according to the method introduced by Ørskov et al (1980). The course of degradation of the samples was described by fitting the DM loss values to the exponential equation of Ørskov and McDonald (1979) :
P = a + b( 1- e-ct).
Four local cattle of 100 to 120 kg initial weight were
allocated to a Latin square arrangement with four treatments and four 56-day periods.
RS: untreated rice straw
CLRS: dried rice straw - chicken litter
CLRSM: dried rice straw - chicken litter plus 3% molasses
CLRSMSP: dried rice straw chicken litter (40%) ensiled with sweet potato vine (57%) and molasses (3%).
All animals were given daily 2 kg fresh cassava peel (21% DM) and 0.5 kg of a concentrate supplement (56% cassava meal + 18% groundnut
cake + 25% of rice bran and + 1% of bone meal) in two equal meals in the
morning and evening.
Chickens
were weighed every two weeks.
Droppings
including mainly chicken excreta were collected daily for calculation of average
daily output.
Rumen
dry matter degradation and DM degradability parameters of dried rice straw
chicken litter, ensiled rice straw chicken litter in comparison with
urea-treated and untreated rice straw.
Feeds
offered and refused were recorded daily to calculate intake and feed conversion
ratio.
Body
weight of cattle was recorded at two weeks intervals and linear regression
analysis used to estimate rate of live weight gain.
Droppings
increased linearly with increasing body weight of the chickens (Table 1). The
average amount of droppings Average dropping
amount collected from 0 to 2 weeks of age was 14,7 g per head/day. On average,
the droppings of Kabir broiler chickens over the
whole feeding period (12 weeks) was 77.8 g/head/day and about 6.54 kg/head for
the whole raising period.
|
Table 1
: Effect of age and body weight on the dropping amount of Kabir chickens
(Mean ±
SE) |
||
|
Weeks of age |
Body weight (g) |
Excreta (g/head/day) |
|
2 |
97.5
±
5.3 |
14.7
± 0.76 |
|
4 |
535± 10.8 |
37.4
± 3.01 |
|
6 |
1166± 17.2 |
78.6
± 9.68 |
|
8 |
1658
± 24.1 |
96.5
± 4.18 |
|
10 |
2187
± 27.4 |
113± 3.32 |
|
12 |
2603
± 33.7 |
126
± 5.84 |
|
Average excreta production 1-84 days |
77.8
± 6.32 |
|
Dry matter and crude protein content in the droppings increased slightly with the age of the chickens (Table 2).
|
Table 2 :
Effect of age on chemical composition of excreta of Kabir chickens (in DM
basic). |
|||
|
Age (Weeks) |
Dry matter |
Crude protein (%) |
Ash |
|
2 |
29.6 |
28.8 |
18.5 |
|
4 |
30.1 |
29.3 |
21.4 |
|
6 |
31.2 |
31.1 |
17.9 |
|
8 |
32.8 |
31.9 |
22.1 |
|
10 |
31.6 |
32.6 |
20.6 |
|
12 |
32.2 |
33.2 |
19.5 |
|
Mean |
31.2 |
31.2 |
20.0 |
The decrease in DM content and increase in crude protein of the litter, with increasing age of chicken (Table 3), are a reflection of the increasing ratio of droppings to straw. These changes are in agreement with the report of Adeleye and Kitts (1983). Hennig and Poppe (1977) also observed an increase in crude protein of the litter but the DM content increased with age of chicken.
|
Table 3: Mean values for quantities of straw added as litter, the estimated ratio of droppings to straw and the composition of the litter, according to the ages of the chickens |
||||||
|
(weeks) |
Rice straw (kg/batch) |
Droppings: rice straw ratio |
Chemical composition of chicken litter |
|||
|
|
|
|
DM |
CP |
Ash |
NDF |
|
2 |
15 |
0.19 |
81.2 |
13.3 |
21.6 |
70.4 |
|
4 |
21 |
0.28 |
76.4 |
15.7 |
22.3 |
65.8 |
|
6 |
27 |
0.39 |
70.5 |
17.1 |
23.9 |
63.7 |
|
8 |
33 |
0.46 |
72.1 |
17.6 |
23.4 |
62.1 |
|
10 |
39 |
0.54 |
72.6 |
18.2 |
24.3 |
60.6 |
|
12 |
45 |
0.61 |
74.0 |
20.7 |
24.1 |
62.4 |
The differences in rates of DM disappearance (in sacco method) of the rice straw reflect the addition of more digestible components to the straw (eg: chicken droppings in case of sun-dried RSCL) and chicken litter plus sweet potato vines (ensiled RSCL), ofn ureat treatment (Table 4).
|
Table 4: DM disappearance (%) in the rumen of rice straw and rice straw-chicken litter processed by different methods |
||||||
|
|
Incubation time (h) |
|||||
|
|
6 |
12 |
24 |
48 |
72 |
96 |
|
Sun dried RSCL |
21.3 |
29.4 |
44.3 |
54.7b |
64.1 |
69.2 |
|
Ensiled RSCL |
24.6 |
33.2 |
49.4 |
62.6c |
69.3 |
75.1 |
|
Urea-treated rice straw |
19.7 |
27.8 |
41.3 |
53.7b |
62.9 |
67.3 |
|
Untreated rice straw |
14.1 |
19.3 |
25.8 |
40.7a |
44.6 |
49.2 |
|
RSD |
1.97 |
3.23 |
3.47 |
2.91 |
3.05 |
3.13 |
|
abc Means in same column without letter in common are different at P0.05 |
||||||
The parameters of the in sacco DM degradability curve (Table 5) show the same pattern of differences between sources and processing of the rice straw, as the measured rates of disappearance (Table 4).
|
Table 5: In sacco DM degradability parameters of rice straw and rice straw-chicken litter processed by different methods |
||||||
|
|
Degradability parameters |
|||||
|
|
a |
b |
a+b |
c |
L |
RSD |
|
Sun dried RSCL |
17.1 |
58.4 |
75.5 |
0.041 |
4.1 |
0.977 |
|
Ensilaged RSCL |
20.5 |
62.3 |
82.9 |
0.058 |
3.4 |
1.163 |
|
Urea-treated rice
straw |
15.5 |
54.4 |
69.9 |
0.031 |
4.6 |
1.211 |
|
Untreated rice straw |
12.4 |
42.4 |
54.9 |
0.023 |
5.8 |
1.234 |
The total DM intake, especially that from the roughage component, increased linearly according to the added elements (chicken droppings alone or plus molasses, or ensiled with molasses and sweet potato vines) (Table 6). The rates of live weight gain showed the same pattern of differences between treatments as the DM intakes. As a result there were no differences between treatments for feed conversion although it appeared that all treatments involving the rice straw - chicken litter were better than the control of untreated rice straw.
|
Table
6: Feed intake, growth rate and feed efficiency in local cattle fed
rice straw chicken litter processed by different methods.
|
||||||
|
|
RS |
RSCL |
RSCLM |
ERSCL |
SE |
Prob. |
|
Feed DM intake |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
2.86a |
3.35b |
4.05c |
4.28c |
0.34 |
0.05 |
|
Roughage |
2.23 |
2.74 |
3.42 |
3.64 |
0.27 |
|
|
CSP + concentrate |
0.64 |
0.61 |
0.62 |
0.60 |
0.02 |
|
|
Feed DM (kg/100 kg LW) |
1.72 |
2.07 |
2.36 |
2.40 |
0.07 |
|
|
Roughage DM (g/kgW0.75)
|
48.2a |
60.3b |
72.3c |
74.7c |
1.28 |
0.05 |
|
Live weight gain (g/day) |
269a |
393b |
478c |
522c |
24.7 |
0.05 |
|
DM feed conversion |
|
8.5 |
8.4 |
8.1 |
0.34 |
|
|
abc
Means without letter in common within columns are different at P < 0.05. |
||||||
After utilization as a bedding material,
the rice straw enriched with chicken droppings, was a valuable feed
resource for local beef cattle in the dry season in
There were benefits in feed intake and growth rate of local cattle from adding 3% molasses tot he rice straw-chicken litter, or ensiling it with sweet potato vine and molasses (40% rice straw-chicken litter, 57% sweet potato vine and 3% molasses).
This research was partially financed by the bilateral SAREC project 2000-2002.
Adeleye I O A and Kitts W D 1983 Poultry wastes as feed for ruminants : II : Effect of age on chemical composition of broiler litter and cages layer droppings. Tropical Animal Production. 15-18
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J P, Webb Jr K E, Harmon B W, Tucker R E and
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Harress 1993
Feeding ensiled poultry excreta to ruminant animals in
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A and Poppe S 1977 Animal wastes as a feed. cited
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1979 The estimation of protein degradability
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E
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R L and Matthewman R W 1992
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