Research Article Growth Performance and Toxicological Assessments of Chicken Feather Protein Hydrolysate as Fish Meal Substitute in Rat Diet

Oluba, Olarewaju M. and Okongwu, Chimelu and Lawal, T. and Akpor, O.B. (2019) Research Article Growth Performance and Toxicological Assessments of Chicken Feather Protein Hydrolysate as Fish Meal Substitute in Rat Diet. Asian Journal of Scientific Research, 12 (3). pp. 450-461. ISSN 1992-1454

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Abstract

Background and Objective: At present, Fish Meal (FM) and meat meal are the dominant animal protein sources for livestock feeds. However, these protein sources are not affordable for most livestock farmers, especially those in developing countries. Thus, it would be helpful to test other protein-based animal byproducts as alternative cheaper protein sources and as a solution to the overdependence of animal feeds on FM. The present study was undertaken to investigate the feasibility of replacing fish meal (FM) with chicken feather protein hydrolysate (CFPH) in rat diet. Materials and Methods: The changes in growth performance (after 4 weeks) and some tissue biochemical indices (after 7 weeks) were determined following feeding with iso-proteic and iso-energetic diets, in which 0 (control), 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% of FM were replaced by CFPH (CFPH 0-100), respectively. Results: Food intake and weight gain showed progressive reduction with increasing proportion of CFPH in the diet increased. The growth parameters monitored were observed to decrease progressively with the increasing CFPH level in the diet. Plasma lipid concentrations were not significantly altered in the rats fed with 20 and 40% CFPH but were significantly lower in the rats fed with 60-100% CFPH compared to the rats fed with 100% FM. Fecal nitrogen excretion and plasma total protein concentration were significantly increased in the rats fed with 40-100% CFPH compared to rats fed 20 and 40% CFPH as well as 100% FM. Liver and kidney function indices monitored were not significantly altered in the rats fed CFPH up to 40% compared to the rats fed 100% FM. Conclusion: Based on the data generated from this study, it could be concluded that the inclusion of CFPH in rat diet up to 20% of the total dietary protein content is safe and has no drastic effect on the growth performance. Thus, feeding CFPH to animals could be a cost-effective solution to the challenge of waste feather disposal and could reduce the overdependence of livestock feed on FM, thereby ensuring sustainable livestock farming. Key words: Animal diet, chicken feather waste, protein hydrolysate, dietary protein, growth performance Received: December 02, 2018 Accepted: February 15, 2019 Published: June 15, 2019 Citation: Olarewaju M. Oluba, Chimelu Okongwu, Temitayo Lawal and Oghenerobor B. Akpor, 2019. Growth performance and toxicological assessments of chicken feather protein hydrolysate as fish meal substitute in rat diet. Asian J. Sci. Res., 12: 450-461. Corresponding Author: Olarewaju M. Oluba, Department of Biological Sciences, Food Safety and Toxicology Research Unit, Environment and Technology Research Cluster, College of Science and Engineering, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, P.M.B. 1001, Nigeria Tel: +2347030496639 Copyright: © 2019 Olarewaju M. Oluba et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Competing Interest: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists. Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its supporting information files.

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