Economic Value of Date Pits Replaced with Maize in Broiler Chicken Diet

Determination of heavy metals from Aloe vera by- product in golden mullet (Liza aurata); A consumer health risk assessment

Heavy metals have become subject of concern in the recent years because of its potency to cause cardiovascular diseases and other toxic health effects. Therefore, this research was assumed to investigate the level of toxicity in terms of heavy metals accumulation in the fish samples and its benefits and risk for human consumers health and also evaluate the partial replacement of plant sources by canarian Aloe vera diets as a pure product or like a by-product on toxicological effects on the golden mullet (Liza aurata) fillet and whole body. In this study risks arising from fish metal content has been measured using various parameters as Estimated Daily Intake (EDI), Maximum Safe Consumption (MSC_A), Target Hazard quotient (THQ), Hazard Index (HI) Carcinogenic risk of As (As- CR), the Value Selenium Health Benefit (Se HBV) and also the Nutritional Values has been evaluated. The results showed that all heavy metal levels in the fish tissue and diets were below the confirmed safe limits for consumption. In case of diets, it is obvious that with the exception of As, Hg, and Se, the presence of heavy or essential metals in both whole fish and raw fillet in golden grey mullet given experimental diets revealed that the whole fish had the highest concentration. Thus, it can be concluded that Aloe vera product and byproduct were in safety limits for fish and also for humans through food chain. Various risk and benefit assessment measures established by national and international authorities concluded that Liza aurata use was mostly safe.

Date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) by-Products: Chemical Composition, Nutritive Value and Applications in Poultry Nutrition, an Updating Review

Several by-products, such as whole cull dates, date stones (also called pits, seeds, kernels), sugar-extracted date pulp, are produced from date fruit processing industries. These by-products, particularly date stone meal represent 10 to 20% of the whole dates are wasted, causing environmental issues. However, the date stone is rich in various nutrients, such as nitrogen-free extract, fiber, fat, and minerals, which could be used as an alternative feed source in poultry nutrition. However, the high fiber content in date stone meal restricts its use in poultry diets. Whole date wastes and date pulp have lower protein, fiber and fat content than those in date stone meal. Several studies have investigated the use of date stone meal and other by-products as a replacement of dietary corn and barley on feed intake, growth, feed efficiency, and nutrient utilization in poultry. The compilation of results obtained from different studies indicates that date fruit by-products, particularly date stone meal, could be incorporated up to 10% levels, replacing corn or barley grains without hampering production performance, and this could reduce the production cost. Moreover, the use of date stone meal at lower levels (5-10%) sometimes shows better growth performance, probably due to the presence of bioactive principles such as antioxidants and phenolic compounds. The use of date stone meal in poultry diets may be practically important under certain circumstances not only under the COVID-19 crisis due to the lockdown of airports, dry ports, ports and traffic restrictions, but also in countries with a limited supply of classical feed resources and which depend on imported ones. Finally, it can recommend that using date stone meal (DSM) up to 5-10% in poultry diets positively affect the productive performance. Due to the variability in the nutritive value of the DSM, developing a formula for metabolizable energy (ME) of DSM = a (intercept) - b (slope) × crude fiber (CF) content should be considered to improve the precision of feed formula for poultry. However, the nutritional value of DSM might not only depend on crude fiber but also on other compounds.

Effect of a diet containing date pits on growth performance, diet digestibility, and economic evaluation of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

This study was performed to investigate the effect of feeding different levels of date pits (DP) to growing Japanese quails on growth performance, diet digestibility, blood parameters, carcass traits, and economical value of the farm production. A total of 204 1-day-old quail chicks were randomly divided into 4 groups (three replicates each). DP was chemically analyzed and used as 0%, 2%, 4%, and 6% to formulate 4 balanced experimental diets (control, DP-2, DP-4, and DP-6, respectively). The feed and water were given ad libitum. Feed intake (FI) and body weight gain (BWG) were recorded weekly, and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated. A digestibility trial was conducted, and the digestion coefficient (DC) was calculated for diet dry matter (DM) and nutrients. At the end of the experiment, carcass traits were measured and blood samples were collected for blood picture analysis. Economical evaluation of the test diets was carried out to determine the net return (NR) of feeding DP to quails. Results showed significant (P < 0.05) change in FI and final body weight among treatments. FCR of DP-6 group was the best in all treatments. DC of diet DM and nutrients were reduced with increasing DP level except for nitrogen-free extract (NFE). Carcass traits and blood parameters were within the normal range with no adverse effects. From the economic point of view, quail selling return values were significantly higher (P < 0.05) for all the groups supplemented with DP than the control one. Total return (TR) and NR values showed insignificant (P > 0.05) differences among the experimental groups; they were higher for DP-fed groups compared with the control. The present results demonstrated a beneficial effect of DP inclusion in the diet of quails in terms of growth performance, blood profiles, carcass traits, and economic value.

Application of risk-rated profit model functions in estimation of economic values for indigenous chicken breeding

The economic values for productive (egg number, average daily gain, live weight, and mature weight) and functional (fertility, hatchability, broodiness, survival rate, feed intake, and egg weight) traits were derived for three production systems utilizing indigenous chicken in Kenya. The production systems considered were free-range, semi-intensive, and intensive system and were evaluated based on fixed flock size and fixed feed resource production circumstances. A bio-economic model that combined potential performances, feeding strategies, optimum culling strategies, farmer's preferences and accounted for imperfect knowledge concerning risk attitude of farmers and economic dynamics was employed to derive risk-rated economic values. The economic values for all the traits were highest in free-range system under the two production circumstances and decreased with level of intensification. The economic values for egg number, average daily gain, live weight, fertility, hatchability, and survival rate were positive while those for mature weight, broodiness, egg weight, and feed intake were negative. Generally, the economic values estimated under fixed feed resource production circumstances were higher than those derived under fixed flock size. The difference between economic values estimated using simple (traditional) and risk-rated profit model functions ranged from -47.26% to +67.11% indicating that inclusion of risks in estimation of economic values is important. The results of this study suggest that improvement targeting egg number, average daily gain, live weight, fertility, hatchability, and survival rate would have a positive impact on profitability of indigenous chicken production in Kenya.