Feed resource base for scavenging village chickens in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The productivity of a population of scavenging village chickens in Sri Lanka has been assessed, and the scavenging feed resource base has been measured and analysed. The laying period lasted 34 +/- 13 days and the batch size was about 20 eggs. The households ate 71% of the egg production. The mean egg weight was 48 g and the mean size of a set of eggs was 9.4. The hatching percentage was 67 +/- 32 and the liveweight at 70 days averaged 313 g with a range of 142 to 492, by which time 65% of the chicks hatched had died. The age at first lay averaged 211 days when the pullets weighed 1,160 g. The broody period lasted from 3 weeks to 4 months depending on whether the hen hatched eggs, and for how long she tended the brood. The laying hens were actively scavenging for most of the daylight hours. The average amount of scavenged feed per household flock per day was 550 g dry weight with a proximate composition of 9.4% crude protein, 9.2% ether extract and 5.4% crude fibre. More than 70% of the feed intake was household refuse (27% cooked rice, 30% coconut residue, 8% broken rice and 36% other scraps). The remainder was from the environment (13% grass shoots, 8% small metazoans and 7% paddy rice). Proximate analyses of crop contents, household refuse and its major components were carried out. Dietary Ca and P levels were low in the village, as were plasma levels of these minerals. On a balanced commercial diet plasma Ca was still lower than that of hybrid commercial chickens. Suggestions are made for improving the productivity of the scavenging system with no requirement for inputs, and with inputs.

Assessing Nutrient Adequacy from the Crop Contents of Free-Ranging Indigenous Chickens in Rural Villages of the Venda Region of South Africa

“…In the present study the high AME of 12.7 MJ/kg DM to 13.5 MJ/kg DM of crop contents suggests that the fowls had access to diets that were high in energy. These high energy levels are supported by the relatively low CF levels of <40 g CF/kg DM in the crop contents compared with 54 g CF/kg recommended by Gunaratne et al (1993) for commercial hens. High NFE levels (590 to 649 g/kg), indicating soluble carbohydrates, were recorded (Table 3) and support the high ME levels in the crop content.…”

Scavenging Pullets in Burkina Faso: Effect of Season, Location and Breed on Feed and Nutrient Intake

“…The availability and composition of the various feed items varied with season. This, as well as, for example, whether it is sowing or harvesting time, has previously been observed to influence the crop contents of scavenging birds (Gunaratne et al, 1993). The higher occurrence of grains found in the crops during the rainy season can be attributed to the fact that the study was carried out at the beginning of the rainy season when farmers were sowing, and when waste grains and seeds were available in the backyard.…”

“…The scavenging feed resource base is variable, depending on season, location and management. Various authors have reported that the proportion that comes from the environment varies with activities such as land preparation, sowing, harvesting, grain availability in the household, the life cycles of insects or other invertebrates, and the biomass of the village flock (Gunaratne et al, 1993;Dessie and Ogle, 1996;Mwalusanya et al, 2002). The limited supply of nutrients restricts the productive potential of local birds (Dessie and Ogle, 1996); any attempt to supplement local poultry should thus take into consideration estimates of what the birds actually consume.…”

Variation in nutrient composition of crop contents of scavenging local chickens in North Central Nigeria

“…This could explains the reason for higher grains in the crop contents in early dry season as compared to early and late rainy seasons. Gunarantne et al (1993) and Dessie (1996) have previously observed that the crop contents of scavenging chicken is affected by harvesting and planting periods. The significantly (P<0.05) higher grains in the crop contents of layers as compared to that of growers may be a reflection of the preferential treatment given to the adult birds in grain supplementation by the local people.…”