Effects Of Ground Mulberry Leaf On Production Performance And Product Quality In Layers And Broilers

At present, the China’s poultry industry develops rapidly, the numbers of laying hens and egg production remain a leading position in the world, and the numbers of broilers raised and sla μ ghtered are behind those of the United States. At the same time, China’s feed production reaches a record high. However, with the population growth, animal husbandry development and shortage of land resources, conventional feed resources supply is becoming scarce, the competition for food between human and livestock becomes increasingly prominent, and it’s urgent to develop new feed resources. Mulberry leaf has high nutritional value, yield and palatability, it’s an excellent unconventional feed resource for animals. Recently, the researches of effect of mulberry leaf on animals gradually increased, but less research related to the effect on poultry breeding, and the results were different for different researchers, particularly the conclusion of the effect on production performance and egg quality of laying hens. In addition, in the application of mulberry leaf in broiler diets, the current reports are mostly concentrated in the effect on growth performance and sla μ ghter indices, little effect on flavor substances has been reported. According to the problems, this study was aimed to investigate the nutrition evaluation of ground mulberry leaf on layers and broilers by comparing production performance and egg quality of layers with and without ground mulberry leaf in the layers diets, and growth performance, slaughter indices and meat quality of broilers with and without ground mulberry leaf in the broilers diets, thus provide a theory basis for the application of ground mulberry leaf in poultry breeding.Trial1:This experiment was conducted to study the effect of ground mulberry leaf on production performance and egg quality in layers. A total of163Roman pink layers aged412days were assigned to four treatment groups with12replicates and3～4birds per replicate. Four groups of layers were fed diets supplemented with0,5%,8%and11%ground mulberry leaf, respectively. Results showed:(1) Adding ground mulberry leaf into the layer diet significantly reduced laying rate and average daily egg production with5%and11%supplemantition (P<0.01), increased the feed/egg ratio with5%supplementation (P<0.05), but have no effect on average daily feed intake(P>0.05);(2) Including of ground mulberry leaf increased yolk color (P<0.01);(3)Adding ground mulberry leaf increased polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)(P<0.05), decreased linolenic acid of yolk with8%and11%supplementation (P<0.01), but had no significant effects on other egg quality indices (P>0.05);(4) Adding ground mulberry leaf increased feed cost of egg production (P <0.01). In conclusion, ground mulberry leaf supplementation increased yolk color and PUFA contents, but decreased laying rate and egg production of layers, increased feed/egg ratio and feed cost of egg production.Trial2:This experiment was aimed to investigate the effect of ground mulberry leaf on growth performance, slaughter indices and meat quality in broilers.172Guangxi Qingjiaoma roosters aged35days were chosen and allotted randomly into4treatment groups with3replicates and13～16birds per replicate. Four groups of broilers were fed diets supplemented with0(control group),5%,8%and11%ground mulberry leaf, respectively. The results showed:(1) Adding ground mulberry leaf into the broiler diet significantly increased the average daily feed intake of11%group and the feed/gain ratio of8%and11%groups (P<0.05);(2) Ground mulberry leaf reduced the abdominal fat rate of broilers with5%supplementation (P<0.05);(3) The intramuscular fat (IMF) content of5%and11%groups were particularly lower than control group (P<0.05). The11%group had higher unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) and ω-3fatty acid (P<0.05), but lower saturated fatty acid (SFA) compared with the control group (P<0.05). Supplementation of ground mulberry leaf tended to increase the contents of corrected inosinic acid, although the effect was not statistically significant (P>0.05);(4) Adding ground mulberry leaf increased feed cost of body weight gain with8%and11%supplementation. Overall, adding ground mulberry leaf into broilers reduced the abdominal fat rate, increased the contents of UFA and ω-3PUFA in muscle, but decreased IMF contents and gain/feed ratio, increased feed cost of body weight gain.In conclusion, adding ground mulberry leaf reduced laying rate, egg production and egg/feed ratio of layers, but improved the egg yolk color and the fatty acid composition of egg yolk; supplementing ground mulberry leaf reduced IMF contents in musle and gain/feed ratio of broilers, but decreased the abdominal fat rate of broilers, increased the contents of UFA and ω-3fatty acid in muscle, improved the meat quality. Altho μ gh ground mulberry leaf supplementation decreased laying rate and egg production, increased feed/egg ratio of layers and feed/gain ratio of broilers, increased feed cost of poultry products, but improved the qualities of poultry products. Thus, ground mulberry leaf could be used as a feed resource in poultry breeding, especially in improving the egg quality and meat quality.