MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 30 healthy female boer cross goats at the age of 4 months old with average initial live body weight (BW) of 20.05±0.5 kg were used for on-farm feeding trial to evaluate the growth performance as preparation for breeding purposes. The experimental goats were divided into two groups of 15 animals each labeled as control and treatment groups, which were kept under intensive farming system. Goats in control group were fed with normal routine feeding protocol practiced by the farmer, while goats in the treatment group were fed with new feed formulation. Throughout the experimental period, on-farm monitoring and data collection were carried out. Initial BW and body condition score (BCS) were recorded before the start of the experiment while final BW and BCS were gained after 7 months of the experimental period. Average daily gain (ADG) was calculated after the experiment end. Data on BW, ADG, and BCS were recorded from both groups for every 2 weeks and reported monthly. The feed intake for the control group was 2.8 kg/animal/day which practiced by the farmer and 3.2 kg/animal/day as new feed formulation for the treatment group.
RESULTS: After 7 months of the experimental period, final BW shows an improvement in treatment group (39.1±1.53 kg) compared with control group (32.3±1.23 kg). The ADG in treatment group also gives promising result when comparing with control group. Goats in treatment group significantly attained better ADG than control group which were 126.7 g/day and 83.3 g/day, respectively. For the BCS, goats in the treatment group had shown an improvement where 86.67% (13 out of 15) of the group had BCS ≥3 (1-5 scoring scale) and only 66.67% (10 out of 15) of the control group had BCS ≥3.
CONCLUSION: Therefore, it was concluded that implementation of proper feeding program as shown in treatment group give promising result to improve the growth performance of replacement breeder goats which can be adopted by the farmers to improve farm productivity.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 120 fingerlings of uniform size (mean initial weight of 1.46 ± 0.06 g) were randomly assigned to one of four groups (n = 10) (A, B, C, and D) per tank (1 m × 2 m × 1 m). For 21 days, Group A (control group) was fed with 100% commercial diet; Group B was fed with 90% commercial fish diet + 10% BSFL; Group C was fed with 80% commercial fish diet + 20% BSFL; and Group D was fed with 70% commercial fish diet + 30% BSFL. Feed efficiency, growth performance, and proximate composition analysis were performed on the fish.
RESULTS: The results displayed that the group with the highest BSFL percentage had a greater effect on protein and fat composition than the control group. The proximate composition analysis of fish-fed diet revealed that an increase in the level of BSFL inclusion increases the protein content in the fish. In comparison to the other groups, the experimental diet with 30% BSFL inclusion has the highest levels of crude protein (80.30% DM) and fat (2.90% DM).
CONCLUSION: It is concluded that incorporating BSFL into a commercial diet for red hybrid tilapia fingerlings increased crude protein and fat composition, providing an alternative protein and fat source in fish diets.
METHODS: Data of various forms, sources and levels of Se were analyzed using a meta-analysis approach in terms of their effects on production, antioxidant activity and egg Se deposition of laying hens by using 81 peer-reviewed publications.
RESULTS: Overall, laying hens' performance and egg quality attributes were not affected by Se supplementation, except for minor changes in egg weight and eggshell thickness in response to higher Se levels in diets. Noticeable effects were found on antioxidant activities where organic Se outperformed the inorganic form. Strong linear relationships between Se levels in the diet and Se content of whole egg, egg yolk and egg albumen were found where Se in the form of selenomethionine (SM) exhibited a stronger relationship with Se content in whole egg (R2 = 0.954), egg yolk (R2 = 0.972) and egg albumen (R2 = 0.926) than other forms of organic Se and inorganic Se (sodium selenite). Also observed was a Se preferential deposition in egg yolk compared with egg albumen especially for SM, indicating a higher bioavailability and deposition rate of SM than other Se sources.
CONCLUSION: Various forms of Se could be safely supplemented to diets at high doses of up to 5 mg kg-1 without adversely affecting hens' performance while enhancing antioxidant status. Supplementation with SM could be the most effective strategy to improve egg Se status among other forms of Se which may be beneficial for consumers. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.