EFFECTS OF SYNTHETIC ASCORBIC ACID AND BAOBAB FRUIT PULP MEAL SUPPLEMENTATION AS SOURCES OF ASCORBIC ACID IN LAYER AND BROILER DIETS DURING COOL-WET AND HOT-DRY SEASONS

EFFECTS OF SYNTHETIC ASCORBIC ACID AND BAOBAB FRUIT PULP MEAL SUPPLEMENTATION AS SOURCES OF ASCORBIC ACID IN LAYER AND BROILER DIETS DURING COOL-WET AND HOT-DRY SEASONS

Abstract:

Six experiments were conducted within cool-wet and hot-dry seasons of 2008/2009 to study the effects of ascorbic acid (AA) and dietary levels of dried baobab fruit pulp meal (BFPM) supplementation as sources of ascorbic acid in layer and broiler diets. Chemical analysis of BFPM was carried out. Three studies were conducted in cool-wet season. The other three hot-dry season trials were replicas of the cool-wet season trials. The first experiment for the cool-wet season was on the effects of AA and BFPM supplementations on the performance of laying hens. In this first experiment, two hundred and fifty two, 44 weeks old ShikaBrown commercial layers obtained from the National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) were used. There were seven dietary treatments of three replicates each and each replicate had 12 birds. Diet groups 2, 3 and 4 had AA at levels 100, 200 and 300mg/kg respectively while diet groups 5, 6 and 7 representing BFPM diets contained BFPM at 3.5, 7.0 and 10.5% inclusion levels respectively. Diet 1 which served as the control contained neither AA nor BFPM. This experiment which was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) lasted for twelve weeks. Experiments 2 and 3 were also carried out in the cool-wet season to determine the effects of dietary supplementations of AA and BFPM on broiler birds at the starter (Experiment 2) and finisher (Experiment 3) phases respectively. The starter phase lasted for 4 weeks while the finisher phase lasted for 3 weeks. Oba-Marshal breed of broiler birds were used. The hot-dry season feeding trials though replicas of cool-wet season, had six treatments, that is, 3 levels of AA, 2 levels of BFPM and one control. The fourth experiment was carried out during hot-dry season to determine the effects of AA and BFPM diets on the performance of laying hens. Two hundred and seventy ShikaBrown® commercial layers were used with each treatment replicated three times and each replicate consisted of 15 birds. For the hot-dry season broiler feeding trials, there were also six treatments. Each treatment was replicated three times with each replicate consisting of 20 birds for starter (Experiment 5) phase and 12 birds per replicate for the finisher phase (Experiment 6). All diets were formulated to meet the NRC (1994) requirements. At the end of finisher phases for both cool-wet and hot-dry season studies, carcass vii studies were carried out to determine the effects of AA and BFPM supplemented diets on carcass characteristics. BFPM analysis revealed the following: 3.31% crude protein, 9.27% crude fibre, 2.12% ether extract, 79.20% Nitrogen Free Extract, 6.29% ash, 1.25% calcium, 2.10% phosphorus and 0.03% iron. The AA content was 299.75mg/100g. Anti-nutritional factor contents of 0.26mg/100g Tannin, 0.12mg/100g phytate, 0.48mg/100g oxalate 0.04mg/100g saponin and Trypsin inhibitor, 1.6mg/100g. The results for feeding trials indicated that ascorbic acid supplementation up to 200mg/kg of diet and 3.5% dietary level of Baobab fruit pulp meal significantly improved performances of both layers and broilers in both seasons. Ascorbic acid supplementation of 200mg/kg also improved the performance of laying hen compared to the control diets as reflected in improved final weights, body weight changes, hen-day egg production, feed intake, kg feed/dozen eggs and feed cost/dozen eggs during the hot-dry season, but it had no significant effect on final weight and body weight change during the cool-wet season. In the broiler experiments, ascorbic acid supplementation improved the performance of broiler chicks both in the cool-wet and in the hot-dry seasons. The performance of broiler starter chicks for final weight, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and feed cost/bird during the cool-wet season improved progressively as the level of ascorbic acid supplementation increased from 100mg/kg to 300mg/kg. The highest level of ascorbic acid supplementation resulted in the least mortality rate of broiler chicks during the cool wet season. At the broiler finisher’s phase, ascorbic acid supplementation improved the performance of birds up to 200mg/kg of diet. The result further indicated that ascorbic acid supplementation increased feed intake during the hot-dry season. Baobab Fruit Pulp Meal (BPFM) in laying hens diets was able to improve performance significantly (P<0.05) up to 3.5% in the diet as reflected in better final weight, change in body weight, feed intake, kg feed/dozen egg and feed cost/dozen eggs in both seasons. Furthermore, the results revealed that inclusion of BFPM at up to 3.5% in the diet impacted positively on the ability of the laying hen to withstand heat stress but it had little or no effect on egg quality. Increasing the level of BFPM beyond 3.5% was found to be uneconomical and counter productive for both broiler starters and layers during both seasons. The bulkiness and powdery nature of the BFPM diets could probably have been responsible for the decline in the performances of broiler birds fed 7.0 and 10.5% BFPM supplementations. Hen-day egg production was improved by 7.1% and 19.1% in cool-wet and hot-dry seasons respectively. There were also 83.37% and 100% reduction in bird mortality for cool-wet and hot-dry seasons respectively in the laying hens. For the broiler finishers, weight gain was improved by 14.63% and 21.38% for cool-wet and hot-dry seasons respectively. It was found that supplementations of AA and BFPM in diets were more effective during the hot-dry season compared to the effect in the cool-wet season. It is therefore recommended that performances of laying hens and growth in broiler finisher flocks can be improved by supplementations of diets with Ascorbic acid at 200mg/kg of diet or by the addition of 3.5% BFPM to the diets during both cool-wet and hot-dry seasons. For the broiler starter, Ascorbic acid at 300mg/kg diet or 3.5% dietary inclusion of BFPM supported optimum performances during coolwet and the hot-dry seasons.

EFFECTS OF SYNTHETIC ASCORBIC ACID AND BAOBAB FRUIT PULP MEAL SUPPLEMENTATION AS SOURCES OF ASCORBIC ACID IN LAYER AND BROILER DIETS DURING COOL-WET AND HOT-DRY SEASONS

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