Citation of this paper

Mixed dried bovine blood and rumen content as partial replacement for soyabean and noug cake in laying hen diets

Denebo Bekele, Meseret Girma, Feyisa Hundessa and Negassi Ameha

School of Animal and Range Sciences, Haramaya University, PO Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia
meseretgirma4@gmail.com

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate the feeding value of dried bovine blood-rumen content mixture (1:1 ratio) in layers ration. Four treatments were compared with 180 layers allocated at random to 3 replicates (12 pens each with 15 layers). The treatment rations formulated were isocaloric and isonitrogenous using dried bovine blood-rumen content mixture at an inclusion level of 0% (BRC0), 8% (BRC8), 16% (BRC16) and 24% (BRC24) to meet the nutrient requirement of layers. Crude protein and metabolizable energy of dried bovine blood-rumen content mixture (BRC) were 46.9% and 2390 kcal ME/kg/DM. Inclusion of BRC at 8% of the diet of layers improved feed intake, egg production, egg mass and feed conversion ratio but as inclusion level increased above 8% these responses decreased. It is concluded that BRC inclusion in layers’ ration at 8% can partially replace soyabean and noug cake without any deleterious effects on animal health and laying performance.

Key words: byproducts, egg production, protein

Introduction

The high cost of conventional protein feedstuffs has contributed to the poor productivity of many poultry farms and this has led to a shortage in the availability of animal protein to the citizenry (Adeniji and Jimoh 2007). This situation inevitably initiates animal nutritionists and other specialists to exert their efforts in searching for cheap and locally available alternative feed ingredients that have no nutritional value to mankind for replacing the usually expensive and scarce cereal and legume grains consumed directly by humans (Onu 2007). One of such non-conventional feedstuff, which could be of value for poultry feeding replacing conventional protein supplement is, dried bovine blood and rumen content. Bovine blood and rumen content is an abattoir (slaughterhouse) by-product that offers tremendous potential as a cheap and locally available alternative feedstuff for poultry (Adeniji and Jimoh 2007). Dried bovine blood and rumen content have a little or no cost and can be incorporated in animal rations after appropriate processing to reduce production costs and alleviate pollution problems without any reported deleterious clinical effects on animal health and their performance (Melkamu et al 2016). These huge amounts of blood and rumen content are not utilized for animal feeding but simply released into the environment and difficulties in the disposal of such wastes. The existing system of disposing of abattoir wastes is resulting in pollution not only causing problems related to odor, flies and hygiene, but surface and groundwater can be polluted with pathogens and undesirable chemical compounds. Efforts have not been made yet in Ethiopia to utilize these waste products as an alternative feed ingredient in layers rations. The need to maximize the economic benefits and minimize the disposal problems associated with blood and rumen content led to new interests in the investigation of these by-products for a possible use in the diets of layers as a feed ingredient and source of protein that can replace protein supplement, an expensive feed ingredient for poultry rations in Ethiopia. Therefore, the current experiment was conducted to evaluate effect of feeding value of dried bovine blood-rumen content mixture as alternative protein supplement in the ration of egg laying hens.

Materials and methods

Collecting and processing of blood

Fresh blood was collected in a plastic container from Haramaya University slaughterhouse immediately after the cattle are slaughtered. The blood was transferred into a barrel and boiled in a dry oven to 60^oC for 30 minutes (Donkoh et al 1999). The coagulated blood after boiling was spread on a clean plastic sheet. It was stirred and turned more than four times daily. The particle size of the dried blood was reduced by hand crushing. Dried blood was ground using miller passed through 5mm sieve size (Melkamu et al 2016).

Collecting and processing of rumen content

Fresh rumen content obtained from eviscerated cattle was collected into clean containers. The rumen was split with the aid of a sharp knife and the contents emptied into a container. The rumen content was sun-dried by spreading on clean plastic sheets. While drying, it was stirred and turned more than four times daily to facilitate even drying. The drying period was lasted from 4 days. Firewood heat was applied to the large iron pan for 30 minutes in 60^oC to destroy potential pathogenic organisms (Donkoh et al 1999). Dried rumen content was ground using miller passed through 5mm sieve size. The processed blood-rumen content meal was mixed at a ratio of 1:1 for this study.

Ingredients and experimental rations

The feed ingredients used in the formulation of the different experimental rations for this study were corn grain, wheat short, noug seed cake, soybean meal, dried bovine blood-rumen content mixture (BRC), vitamin premix, salt, limestone and di-calcium phosphate (Table 1). Chemical composition of feed was determined from representative samples of the ingredients, and based on the analysis results, four treatment rations were formulated. The four treatment rations used in this study were formulated to be iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous with 2800 kcal ME/kg DM and 16% CP to meet the nutrient requirements of layers (Leeson and Summers 2005) (Tables 1 and 2).

Table 1. Proportion of feed ingredients (%) used in formulating the experimental ration
Ingredients (%)	Treatments
Ingredients (%)	BRC0	BRC8	BRC16	BRC24

Dried bovine blood	0	4	8	12
Dried rumen content	0	4	8	12
Noug cake	10	10	7	0
Soybean meal	14	6	1	0
Wheat short	29.7	20.7	8.7	2
Maize	38	47	59	65.6
Limestone	7	7	7	7.1
Salt	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Vitamin-premix	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8
Total	100	100	100	100

Experimental design and treatments

The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design (CRD) involving four dietary treatments, each with three replications of 15 layers per pen. A total of 180 Bovan Brown layers with 32 weeks of age were assigned into four dietary treatments containing different levels of ground dried bovine rumen content and blood mixture as shown below.

BRC0; 0% dried bovine blood-rumen mixture (control)

BRC8: 8% dried bovine blood-rumen content mixture

BRC16: 16% dried bovine blood-rumen content mixture

BRC24: 24% dried bovine blood-rumen content mixture

Measurements and observations

Dry matter and nutrient intake, body weight change, hen-day egg production, egg weight and egg mass, feed conversion ratio, egg quality parameters data were collected. For internal quality egg measurement total of 360 eggs were used for quality analysis.

A total of 48 egg samples were randomly taken (4 eggs per replication and 12 eggs per treatment) for sensory evaluation. Egg samples (separate albumen and yolk) from each treatment were randomly presented to a trained panel of experts. Panelists were introduced to different evaluation techniques (taste, aroma, flavor and overall acceptance). The panelists were asked to rate the samples on the bases of a 7-point hedonic scale anchored by 1= 'Strongly disliked'; 2='Moderately disliked'; 3= 'Slightly disliked'; 4= 'Indifferent'; 5= 'Slightly liked'; 6= 'Moderately liked', and 7= 'Strongly liked' (Granato et al 2010).

Statistical analysis

The experiment data were analyzed by ANOVA) using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure of SAS (2009) version 9.2. The model used for data analysis was:

Y_ij= µ + T_i + e_ij

Where:

Y_ij = the response variable

µ = Overall mean

T_i = Treatments effect

e_ij = Random error term

Results and discussion

Chemical composition of experimental diets

The crude protein content of BRC was relatively high, which could make them to be good protein supplement feed ingredients for layers (Table 2). In all treatment rations the CP and calculated ME value range revealed on the current study were (16-18%) and (2811-2945 kcal/kg DM) respectively (Table 3). This value was approximately within the range of 16-18% CP and 2800-2900 kcal/kg DM, recommended by NRC (1994) for layers.

Table 2. Chemical composition of ingredients used to formulate the experimental rations
Nutrients	Feed Ingredients
Nutrients	Blood	Rumen content	BRC	NSC	SBM	WS	Maize

DM	89.43	91.99	91.22	92.41	92.58	89.56	89.11
CP %DM	83	10	46.93	29	44	11	10
EE %DM	0.86	1.86	1.47	8.11	7.83	4.24	5.72
CF %DM	0.83	29.44	14.09	5.83	4.48	5.53	2.63
Ash %DM	3.06	16.67	9.59	7.37	6.26	6.45	1.72
Ca %DM	0.96	0.67	1.48	0.58	0.44	0.56	0.04
P %DM	0.49	1.64	0.98	0.54	0.7	0.59	0.33
ME Kcal/Kg	3799.32	760.72	2389.91	3574.37	3724.17	3427.99	3958.71
DM= Dry matter; CP= Crude protein; EE= Ether extract; CF= Crude fiber; Ca= Calcium; P= Phosphorus; ME= Metabolizable energy; BRC= bovine blood-rumen content mixture; NSC= Noug seed Cake; SBM= Soybean meal; WS= Wheat short; kcal= kilo calorie; kg= kilo gram

Table 3. Chemical composition of treatment diets containing a different proportion of dried bovine blood-rumen content mixture
	BRC0	BRC8	BRC16	BRC24

DM, %	92.08	90.16	90.94	90.68
% in DM
CP	16.18	17.11	17.45	18.05
E	3.8	3.89	4.16	5.09
CF	7.49	8.23	9.13	9.08
Ash	13.44	13.24	13.63	13.61
T= treatment; DM= Dry matter; CP= Crude protein; EE= Ether extract; CF= Crude fiber

Feed intake, egg production and feed conversion

Inclusion of BRC at 8% of the diet of layers improved feed intake (Figure 1), egg production (Figure 2), egg mass (Figure 3) and feed conversion ratio (Figure 4) but as inclusion level increased above 8% these results decreased (Table 4).

Table 4. Mean values for feed intake and laying performance
	BRC0	BRC8	BRC16	BRC24	SEM	p-value

DM intake, g/d	92.9^a	94.65^a	86.40^b	84.66^b	1.33	0.0002
CP intake, g/d	16.32^b	17.96^a	16.58^b	16.85^b	0.2	0.0009
MEI kcal /h/d	297.13^a	303.63^a	267.09^b	267.68^b	5.18	0.0001
Egg weight (gm)	59.89^b	61.06^a	59.24^b	58.87^b	0.27	0.001
HDEP (%)	57.14^ab	64.34^a	53.84^bc	47.52^c	2	0.002
Egg mass	34.21^ab	39.28^a	31.92^bc	28^c	1.33	0.001
Feed conversion ratio	3.08^b	2.79^b	3.14^ab	3.66^a	0.11	0.008


Figure 1. Effect of BRC on DM intake of layers	Figure 2. Effect of BRC on egg production of Bovan brown layers


Figure 3. Effect of BRC on egg mass of layers	Figure 4. Effect of BRC on feed conversion ratio of layers

These findings are supported by reports of Adeniji (1995) and Odunsi (2003) who recorded a stepwise decrease in egg production for pullets fed diets containing high levels of a mixture of blood and rumen content in the ration. It was reported by Donkoh et al (1999) who reported to impart an obnoxious odor to the final diet and make it less palatable to layers causing a depression in consumption and subsequently recorded less performance.

Egg quality parameters and sensory evaluation

Inclusion of BRC of the diet of layers improved egg quality parameters (Figure 5) and not affected eating quality of egg albumen and yolk (Table 5).

Figure 5. Effect of feeding BRC on egg quality parameters

Table 5. Sensory evaluation egg from hens fed diets containing dried bovine blood-rumen content
Parameters	Treatments				p-value	SEM
Parameters	BRC0	BRC8	BRC16	BRC24	p-value	SEM

Aroma
Albumen	5.2	5.51	5.41	5.23	0.22	0.05
Yolk	5.56	5.95	5.8	5.62	0.15	0.07
Taste
Albumen	5.33	5.8	5.62	5.46	0.09	0.07
Yolk	5.51	5.85	5.8	5.54	0.06	0.06
Flavor
Albumen	5.64	5.82	5.38	5.28	0.09	0.09
Yolk	5.51	5.74	5.77	5.69	0.10	0.06
Overall acceptance
Albumen	5.33	5.69	5.67	5.62	0.33	0.08
Yolk	5.31	5.79	5.82	5.46	0.21	0.09

Conclusion

Mixed bovine blood and rumen content at 8% of the diet f laying hens can partially replace soya bean and noug cake, without affecting feed intake, laying performanc and eegg quality.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Haramaya University for funding the research.

References

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Received 17 January 2020; Accepted 30 January 2020; Published 2 March 2020

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