Quality of eggs produced by laying hens fed composite leaf meal as alternative to premix

Muyiwa Adegbenro, Johnson O Agbede, Gbenga E Onibi and Valentine A Aletor

Department of Animal Production and Health, The Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
madegbenro@futa.edu.ng

Abstract

A 16-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacement of layer premix with a composite leaf meal (CLM) on performance and egg qualities. The CLM was produced from a mixture of five vegetables: moringa, African basil, cassava, fluted pumpkin and bitter leaf. The leaves were harvested, air-dried, milled and mixed in equal proportions into a composite meal and used to replace premix at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 g/kg. Point-of-lay birds (n=240) were housed in California type cages, 2 birds per cage unit, 5 cage units per replicate, and 4 replicates per treatment in a Completely Randomized Design.

Birds fed 5 g/kg CLM had better feed conversion and hen-day production than those fed the control diet. Cholesterol levels in eggs of birds fed CLM were reduced over those fed the control diet. Egg yolk color increased progressively with increased CLM inclusion in the diets. It can be concluded that the inclusion of CLM from the five vegetables could be a substitute for premix in laying birds and this could increase egg production and egg quality.

Key words: African basil (Ocimum gratissimum), bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina), cassava (Manihot esculenta), fluted pumpkin (Telfaria occidentalis), Moringa (Moringa oleifera), vitamin premix

Introduction

In Nigeria, commercial poultry meat and egg production business is increasing daily and there are tremendous scope and opportunities for the Nigerian poultry industry to expand. However, the recent hike in the prices of conventional feeds and feed ingredients including premixes is a major factor limiting net return from the poultry enterprise. Therefore, there is a need to seek for locally available and cheap alternative sources of feed ingredients, particularly those that do not attract competition in consumption between humans and livestock. This is because the cost of feeding alone has been reported to account for 60 – 65 % of intensive non-ruminant (poultry and swine) production in the third world countries (Agbede 2000; Adegbenro et al 2013). The inclusion of alternative feed resources in the diets could help reduce feed cost and minimize the direct competition between man and the livestock industry for the available conventional feedstuffs. Poultry production plays a major role in bridging the protein gap in developing countries where average daily consumption is far below recommended standards (Onyimonyi et al 2009). However, the productivity of poultry in the tropics has been limited by scarcity and consequent high prices of the conventional feed resources like protein and vitamin-mineral premixes. This study examined the potential of a composite leaf meal (CLM) of moringa (Moringa oleifera), African basil (Ocimum gratissimum), cassava (Manihot esculenta), fluted pumpkin (Telfaria occidentalis) and bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) as an alternative to the standard premix in laying bird diets.

Material and methods

The experiment was carried out at the Poultry Unit of the Teaching and Research Farm, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria, (Latitude 7⁰18’’N and Longitude 5⁰ 10''E) which falls within the rainfall zone of the humid tropics which is characterized by the hot and humid climate. The mean annual rainfall is 1500 mm and the rain period is bimodal with a short break in August. The altitude is about 350 m above sea level, the mean annual humidity is 75 % and the mean temperature is 27 ⁰C.

Leaves from five selected plants (cassava, moringa, fluted pumpkin, African basil and bitter leaves) were harvested and air-dried to a constant weight to prevent loss of some vital nutrients. The air-dried leaves were milled using hammer mill and stored in a plastic container before use. Thereafter, the leaves were mixed in the same ratio (1:1:1:1:1) by weight to produce the CLM.

The premix in the formulated diet was reduced by 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 % and replaced with similar amounts of the CLM (Table 1).

Experimental design

Three hundred (300) Isa-Brown pullets were procured at point of lay from Synermight Farms, Ibadan, Nigeria. On arrival, the birds were kept on deep litter for some hours and anti-stress solution was administered to stabilize them. Thereafter, two hundred and forty (240) out of the three hundred (300) were selected based on weight and transferred to a 3 tier California type colony cage system with 2 birds per cage unit, 5 cage units per replicate and 4 replicates per treatment in a naturally ventilated experimental hen house. The cages were equipped with open galvanized feeders and aluminium water troughs. The experimental design was a Complete Randomized Design. The duration of the experiment was 112 days, divided into 4 phases of 28 days per phase. Each bird was given 110 g/day of the diets. Water was provided ad libitum.

Egg collection and production performance

Eggs were collected thrice daily; in the morning (8.00 – 8.30 am), afternoon (12.00 – 12.30pm) and evening (4.30 – 5.00pm). During these collection periods, hands were used to turn the feed available in the feeding troughs to make a fresh feed available to the birds. The number of eggs laid by birds in each replicate was recorded daily. Eggs collected from each replicate for three days at the end of each phase were used for the egg quality assessment. Percentage hen-day production (HDP) was calculated as the number of eggs laid divided by the number of hens (Oluyemi and Robert 1981; Ahmed et al 2013). Egg mass was calculated by multiplying egg weight by egg production percentage = % Hen-day production (HDP) × Average egg weight (g)

Feed conversion ratio was calculated a feed consumption per hen divided by egg mass.

Egg quality assessment

On the last three consecutive days of each phase, the following were determined.

Albumen weight

Each egg was cracked gently to expose the interior portion. The egg yolk was manually separated gently from the albumen which was weighed.

Yolk weight

The separated yolk from the albumen was weighed.

Egg shell weight

After removing the yolk and the albumen from the shell, the shell was dried at room temperature for 72 hours and weighed.

Egg shell thickness

Part of the dried shell was cut and the inner layer removed to measure the thickness of the eggshell using micrometer screw gauge.

Haugh unit

Albumin quality was measured in terms of Haugh Units (HU) calculated from the height of the albumin and the weight of the egg. Haugh unit = 100 x log (Albumen height + 7.57 ­ 1.7 x Egg weight^0.35), where 7.57, 1.7 and 0.35 are constant (Eisen et al 1962).

Total cholesterol

The eggs were prepared according to the procedures described by Elkin et al (1999). They eggs were first hard-cooked, allowed to cool, after which the weight of the boiled egg was recorded. The eggshell was peeled off and also weighed followed by the removal of the egg white (albumen). The yolks were separated, weighed and crumbled. One gram (1 g) of the sample of each yolk was homogenized with 15 ml of chloroform-methanol 2:1 (v/v), thoroughly mixed and filtered. Egg yolk homogenate filtrates were designated as egg yolk samples. Total cholesterol of the egg yolk samples was determined using the RANDOX^® cholesterol assay kit.

Egg pH

A digital pH meter (DPH-2 ATAGO) was used to measure the yolk pH, albumen pH and whole egg pH.

The yolk colour

The egg yolk colour was determined using Roche Yolk Colour Fan (RYCF) ranging from values 1 to 15 (Vuilleumier 1969; Beardsworth and Hernandez 2004).

Statistical analysis

Data on egg production, production performance and egg quality assessment were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS version 13 package.

Results

Performance parameters

Of the performance parameters, feed intake was not affected but hen-day egg production was increased, and feed conversion improved, with curvilinear trends, as the level of CLM in the diet was increased (Table 2; Figures 1 and 2).

Egg quality

Egg yolk color was enhanced and levels of cholesterol markedly decreased as the CLM replaced the conventional premix (Tabl 3; Figures 3 and 4). There were no other effects of egg quality parameters.

Figure 1. Trend in egg production from hens fed diets with increasing levels of CLM	Figure 2. Trend in feed conversion of hens fed diets with increasing levels of CLM
Figure 3. Trend in yolk color of eggs from birds fed diets with increasing levels of CLM	Figure 4. Trend in cholesterol levels in eggs from birds fed diets with increasing levels of CLM

Discussion

The increased in daily feed intake with increasing level of CLM in the diet, demonstrate that these leaves are good sources of vitamin/mineral which aids consumption and as a result led to apparent superiority of the CLM over the convention premix. These findings were consistent with the report of Kakengi et al (2007) who fed 5% M. oleifera leaf meal levels. Kakengi et al (2007) observed increased feed intake in laying hens fed diets containing 10 and 20 % levels of M. oleifera leaf meal in which inclusion rates were about twofold higher than those of the present study. Iheukwumere et al (2007) reported similar intake values in birds fed 5 % dietary levels of cassava leaf meal. The present study is in agreement with Ekenyem and Madubuike (2006) that reported improved feed intake for broilers fed diets with 5 % levels of Ipomoea asarifolia leaf meal. Higher % HDP observed in birds fed CLM as obtained in the present study showed that the substitution of conventional premix with CLM moderately influenced laying performance. The decrease in feed conversion ratio in the tested diets compared with the control indicated good utilization of the diets by the birds. The substitution of conventional premix with CLM at 5 g/kg levels in the diet showed a positive effect on egg weight. This may be associated with higher sulphur-containing amino acids in Moringa leaves (one of the leaves used in producing the CLM used in this study). This agreed with the earlier study of Kakengi et al (2007) who reported a positive effect on egg weight when sunflower was substituted with M. oleifera at 5 % levels in the diet of laying hens.

The reduced value observed in the cholesterol levels in the egg may also be as a result that Moringa oleifera leaf meal (hypocholesterolemic agent) contains antioxidant compounds, such as the flavonoid mevalonic acid that is formed from acetyl-CoA. These compounds inhibit the activity of 3-methyl, 3-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA reductase enzyme, which converts acetyl-CoA to mevalonic acid and reduces cholesterol formation (Ghasi et al 2000, Rao and Agarwal, 2000, Partama et al 2018). The increased in yolk colouration indicated the presence of carotene in the CLM thus supporting the findings that all green plants contain xanthophylls and its source, availability and value will dictate the degree of pigmentation (McGraw and Hill 2006). Possibly, the use of these leaves could be harnessed towards poultry product pigmentation in the tropics where consumers favour deep coloured poultry egg and skin. The pH values observed in this study fell within the range earlier reported by FDA (2012). The cost of experimental diets cost of feeding, percentage cost reduction of feed consumed and the total cost of feed consumed for the diets supplemented with CLM was slightly lower than the control since conventional premix is one of the costly ingredients in poultry feed. From this, the net return/profit (₦) increased as the level of CLM increased, this is the major concern of poultry producers to maximise profit could be achieved with the use of these CLM diets.

Conclusion

• The inclusion of CLM from the five leafy vegetables could be a substitute for a commercial premix in diets of laying birds

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to STEP - B, Federal University of Technology, Akure for Innovators of Tomorrow (IOT) grant award to Muyiwa Adegbenro with which this study was conducted.

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Received 11 October 2019; Accepted 2 March 2020; Published 1 April 2020

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