Effect of lysine to energy ratio on the productivity and carcass characteristics of indigenous Venda chickens aged one to thirteen weeks and raised in closed confinement

Abstract

Eight experiments were conducted to determine the effect of dietary lysine to energy ratio on the productivity and carcass characteristics of indigenous Venda chickens aged one to thirteen weeks and raised in closed confinement. The eight experiments were based on four different energy levels of 11, 12, 13 and 14 MJ of ME/kg DM. Each dietary energy level had four different levels of dietary lysine (8, 9, 11 and 14 g lysine/kg DM). Thus, different dietary lysine to energy ratios were calculated. Experiments 1 to 4 determined the effect of dietary lysine to energy ratio on productivity of unsexed Venda chickens aged one to seven weeks. Each experiment commenced with 160 unsexed day-old indigenous Venda chicks with an initial live weight of 30 ± 3 g per bird and was carried out for seven weeks. In each experiment, the chicks were randomly assigned to four treatments with four replications, each having 10 chicks. A complete randomized design was used for each experiment. All data were analysed by one-way analysis of variance. Where there were significant differences, the Duncan test for multiple comparisons was used to test the significance of differences between treatment means. A quadratic regression model was used to determine the ratios for optimum productivity in each experiment while a linear model was used to determine the relationships between dietary lysine to energy ratio and optimal responses in the variables measured. Results indicated that dietary lysine to energy ratio for optimal responses depended on the variable of interest. In Experiment 1, feed intake, growth rate, live weight, ME intake and nitrogen retention were optimized at different dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.722, 0.719, 0.719, 0.670 and 0.712, respectively. There was a positive and strong relationship (r2 = 0.950) between dietary lysine to energy ratio and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Results from Experiment 2 indicated that feed intake, growth rate, FCR, live weight, ME intake and nitrogen retention were optimized at dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.719, 0.742, 0.788, 0.742, 0.734 and 0.789, respectively. In Experiment 3, dietary lysine to energy ratio did not have any effect (P>0.05) on all the parameters measured. However, quadratic analysis indicated that dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.817, 0.883, 0.920, 0.898, 0.895 and 0.955 optimized feed intake, growth rate, FCR, live weight, ME intake and nitrogen retention of the chickens, respectively. Experiment 4 results showed that feed intake, growth rate, FCR, live weight ME intake and nitrogen retention were v optimized at different dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.906, 0.964, 1.023, 0.966, 0.963 and 0.951, respectively. Experiments 5 to 8 determined the effect of dietary lysine to energy ratio on productivity, carcass characteristics, sensory attributes and haematological values of female indigenous Venda chickens aged eight to thirteen weeks. The layouts, treatments, design and execution were similar to those described for Experiments 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively, except that Experiments 5 to 8 were for female indigenous Venda chickens aged eight to 13 weeks. These chickens were different from those used in Experiments 1 to 4. They were raised on a grower mash (16 % crude protein, 11 MJ of ME/kg DM and 180 g of lysine) prior to commencement of the study. Each experiment commenced with 120 eight weeks old female Venda chickens with an initial live weight of 412 ± 3 g per chicken. In each experiment, the chickens were randomly assigned to four treatments with five replicates, each having six chickens. Results obtained from Experiment 5 showed that feed intake, growth rate, FCR, live weight, ME intake, carcass weight, dressing percentage, breast meat, drumstick, wing weight, breast meat drip loss, juiciness, flavour, haemoglobin and pack cell volume were optimized at different dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.672, 0.646, 0639, 0.649, 0.655, 0.656, 0.664, 0.669, 0.665, 0.663, 0.631, 0.708, 0.623, 0.556 and 0.609, respectively. In Experiment 6, the diets were formulated to have higher lysine to energy ratios than those in Experiment 5 by using a dietary lysine level of 9 g lysine/kg DM. Results from this experiment showed that feed intake, FCR, nitrogen retention, carcass weight, dressing percentage, breast meat, gizzard weights and breast meat pH at 2, 12 and 24 hours after slaughter were optimized at dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.798, 0.613, 0.777, 0.742, 0.753, 0.729, 0.758, 0.752, 0.802 and 0.797, respectively. Red blood cell and haemoglobin values in this experiment were optimized at dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.480 and 0.624, respectively. In Experiment 7, dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.79, 0.85, 0.92 and 1.00 g lysine/ MJ of ME were used. Dietary treatments in this experiment had no effect (P>0.05) on all the production parameters measured except feed and apparent metabolisable energy intakes. Quadratic analysis of the results indicated that dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.964, 0.912, 0.900, 0.890, 0.910, 1.090, 0.934 and 0.895 optimized feed intake, apparent metabolisable energy, carcass, breast meat, drumstick weights and vi breast meat drip loss, juiciness and flavour, respectively. A positive and very strong relationship (r2 =0.998) was observed between dietary lysine to energy ratio and pack cell volume. Experiment 8 diets were formulated to have higher dietary lysine to energy ratios than the other experiments. Results of this experiment indicated that all the production parameters were influenced (P<0.05) by dietary lysine to energy ratio except mortality. Feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio, live weight, apparent metabolisable energy and nitrogen retention were optimized at dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.996, 0.980, 0.991, 1.010, 0.957 and 0.993, respectively. Dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.992, 0.974, 0.991, 0.992, 1.023, 0.981, 0.979 and 0.815 optimized carcass weight, dressing percentage, breast meat, drumstick, liver weights and breast meat tenderness, juiciness and flavour, respectively. There were variations in the optimal lysine to energy ratios for different parameters investigated. In a diet containing 8 g of lysine per kg DM, 11.13 MJ of ME/kg DM and 150 g of CP/kg DM, dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.719 and 0.649 are recommended for optimal live weight of Venda chickens aged one to seven and eight to 13 weeks, respectively. In a diet containing 9 g of lysine per kg DM, 12.13 MJ of ME/kg DM and 180 g of CP/kg DM, dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.742 and 0.712 are recommended for optimal live weight of Venda chickens aged one to seven and eight to 13 weeks, respectively. In a diet containing 11 g of lysine per kg DM, 12.51 MJ of ME/kg DM and 220 g of CP/kg DM, dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.878 and 0.894 are recommended for optimal live weight of Venda chickens aged one to seven and eight to 13 weeks respectively. In a diet containing 12 g of lysine per kg DM, 12.05 MJ of ME/kg DM and 240 g of CP/kg DM, dietary lysine to energy ratios of 0.996 and 1.010 are recommended for optimal live weight of Venda chickens aged one to seven and eight to 13 weeks, respectively. The results obtained in this study showed that different production parameters of Venda chickens were optimized at different lysine to energy ratios. This implies that the nutritional requirements of these chickens are dynamic and thus, dietary lysine to energy for optimal production depends on the production parameter of interest. This has implications on ration formulation for indigenous chickens.