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Cassava pulp contains a lot of starch, but low amounts of protein and high fiber content which limits its use as a feedstuff for broilers. However, fermentation of this pulp with Aspergillus oryzae (A. oryzae) to improve its protein content may increase its usefulness in broiler diets. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to evaluate the potential use of fermented cassava pulp (FCP) in broilers. In experiment 1 the effects of FCP on nutrient digestibility and retention were studied. FCP was prepared using cassava pulp fermented with A. oryzae and urea for 4 days. Forty-nine fifteen-day old male chickens were placed in individual cages and assigned randomly to one of 7 dietary treatment groups (one control and six FCP: 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 and 240 g/kg) for 10 days. The results indicate that nutrient digestibility and retention decreased with increasing levels of FCP (P＞0.05), but the decrease was not significant at dietary levels below 160 g/kg. Experiment 2 studied the effect of FCP in broiler diets on growth performance, carcass quality and blood biochemistry. Two hundred and seventy one-day old male chicks were randomly distributed to 6 dietary groups (one control and five FCP: 40, 80, 120, 160 and 200 g/kg) for 42 days. The results show that FCP could be used as an energy source with inclusion levels up to 160 g/kg in broiler diets having no effect on growth performance, carcass composition, meat color or blood biochemistry (P＞0.05). Moreover, it was found that FCP had no detrimental effects on the aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) of broilers (P＞0.05). In conclusion, FCP can be used in broiler diets up to 160 g/kg without detrimental effects on nutrient digestibility and retention, growth performance, carcass quality or blood biochemistry.

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The present study aimed to determine the effects of dietary curcuminoids combined with tuna oil on the growth performance, meat quality, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values in the plasma and raw meat, and fatty acid profile of chicken meat. A total of 480 21-day-old mixed-sex slow-growing chickens was assigned to a completely randomized design model with 6 treatments and 4 replicates (pens) per treatment. The basal diet based on corn-soybean and 4% tuna oil was used as the negative control. The experimental diets comprised the basal diet supplemented with curcumin removed turmeric oleoresin to provide 20, 40, 60, or 80 mg/kg curcuminoids (CUR-20, CUR-40, CUR-60, and CUR-80, respectively) or dl-α-tocopheryl acetate at 200 ppm as the positive control (E-200). Finally, the vacuum-packed carcasses were stored frozen at -20°C for 3 mo to examine the effect of curcuminoids on changes in the TBARS values and fatty acid composition of the breast and thigh meat. Increasing the levels of curcuminoids tended to improve the feed conversion ratio (linear, P = 0.065) and significantly increased the proportion of breast fillet (linear, P = 0.037) and the yellowness of the skin of both the breast (linear, P = 0.016) and the thigh (linear, P = 0.023). The curcuminoids exhibited antioxidant properties, but their effect was not dose dependent. The CUR-20 and CUR-40 treatments increased the linoleic acid content but decreased the C22:6n-3 (DHA) content of the breast meat. The CUR-60 treatment inhibited oxidation (measured by TBARS) in the chicken meat similarly to dl-α-tocopheryl acetate but had no effect on the proportion of DHA in the breast or thigh meat. Auto-oxidation occurred in the breast meat but not in the thigh meat during the 3 mo of frozen storage. The present study showed that a suitable level of curcuminoids in the diet of slow-growing chickens was 60 mg/kg.

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This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of various feeding programmes on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and the meat qualities of Thai indigenous crossbred (50%) Korat chickens to obtain suitable feeding programmes. A total of 480 one-day-old mixed-sex Korat chickens were randomly allotted to four treatments, namely FP1, FP2, FP3 and FP4, with four replicates for each treatment (30 birds per replicate) in a completely randomized design. Chickens in FP1 were fed diets with 21, 19, 17 and 15% crude protein (CP) in periods of 0-3, 3-6, 6-9 and 9-13 weeks old, respectively. Chickens in FP2 were fed diets with 21, 19, 17 and 15% CP in periods of 0-3, 3-5, 5-7 and 7-13 weeks old, respectively.

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