The Effects of Dietary Maoberry (Antidesma sp.) Pomace Supplementation on Broiler Growth Performance, Blood Parameters, Carcass Quality and Intestinal Histology

Abstract

Background: Maoberry (Antidesma sp.) pomace (MP) is a waste product and therefore, it is important to exploit this resource as a feedstuff for animals. Hence, the current investigation is aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of MP on growth performance, blood parameters, carcass quality and intestinal histology in broilers. Methods: 288 male (Ross 308), 1-day-old broilers were individually weighed and steel wing tagged before allocation to one of 24 floor pens (12 birds/pen). All birds received the same standard starter diet (7-21 d old) and finisher diet (22-42 d old) to conform with NRC (1994). After week one, six dietary treatments were provided, which contained five different maoberry (Antidesma sp.) pomace or MP sources: 0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.5%. Result: At 42 d, broiler fed 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5% MP had increased feed efficiency (FE) when compared with broilers on basal diets. Dressing and breast percentages were significantly increased across groups. Broilers fed MP had significantly (P<0.05) increased epithelial cell areas and cellular mitosis levels. Supplementing dietary MP exerted positive effects on FE and intestinal histology as they were significantly (P<0.05) increased in MP fed birds.