TITLE:
Overall Performance, Carcass Yield, Meat Safety Potentials and Economic Value of Heat-Stressed Broilers Fed Diets with Balanced Electrolytes
AUTHORS:
Ibukun Olukorede Popoola, Oluwabukola Rashidat Popoola, Akinyemi Alaba Adeyemi, Oluwatobi Matthew Ojeniyi, Ibikunle Funsho Olaleru, Femi Joshua Oluwadele, Ezekiel Olukunle Akinwumi
KEYWORDS:
Broilers, Carcass, Dietary Electrolytes, Heat Stress, Meat Safety, Tropical Agriculture
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.11 No.7,
July
9,
2020
ABSTRACT: Tropical regions across the globe are characterized by an annually
prolonged hot weather conditions that showcase limiting production efficiency
in livestock industry, as domesticated animals leave the zone of maximum comfort, under heat stress, with death and reduced
carcass yield accompanying the subsequent alteration in body chemistry and
behavior. However, pen house orientation, cooling systems, genetic modification
and different dietary manipulations have been employed in poultry industry, but
many of such did not account for the body’s acid-base equilibrium and the
potentials of aggregate levels of dietary electrolytes in enhancing carcass
yield of broilers under severe heat stress conditions. Therefore, this study
was conducted to investigate the effects of different electrolyte-balanced
diets on overall performance, carcass yield, meat safety potentials and
economic value of heat-stressed broilers reared for five weeks. Arbor Acre
broiler chicks (n = 300) were randomly allotted to diets with aggregate
electrolyte balance of 210 (T1), 240 (T2), 270 (T3), 300 (T4), 330 (T5) and 360
(T6) mEq/Kg, in a completely randomised design. On day 35, birds whose weights
were closest to the mean class weight were selected from each replicate pen for
carcass yield assessment. Also, data on performance and cost-benefit analysis
were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at α = 0.05. Electrolyte-balanced diets though contained salts that presumably
could have improved satiety, yet they do not enhance appetite in heat-stressed
broilers. However, dietary protein efficiency
was enhanced at an electrolyte balance levels of 240 and 270 mEq/kg,
which translated into increased body weight gain. Weights of primal parts of
birds on 270 mEq/kg DEB were highest at 35 days. Feed cost values (per kilogram
weight gain) of rations with 240 mEq/kg and 270 mEq/kg DEB were lower and
showcased promising economic buoyancy to both rural and commercial poultry
farmers, while ensuring a high food safety standard under tropical conditions.