Supplementation of waste tea fungal biomass as a dietary ingredient for broiler chicks

Authors:
G S Murugesan, Muthuswamy Sathishkumar, Krishnaswami Swaminathan

Abstract:
The waste tea fungal biomass produced during black tea fermentation was investigated as a dietary ingredient in poultry feeds. A small portion of fungal mat was used as a starter culture for the next cycle while the major portion is discarded as waste. Hence a trial study was carried out to utilize the waste fungal biomass as a supplementary diet for broiler chicks. The fungal biomass contained 179.38 g of crude protein, 120 g crude fiber, 4.82 g phosphorus, 6.56 g of calcium and 8.92 MJ metabolizable energy per kilogram of biomass. The dried tea fungus showed a phytase activity of 23 IU/mg protein. The supplementation of tea fungal inclusion (TFI) at 150 g/kg concentration in poultry feed increased the feed consumption, body weight, performance efficiency factor (PEF) and the carcass characters of test broilers significantly (P=0.01) over the control. The histopathological examination of the liver showed no abnormalities and the mortality rate was zero.

Keywords: tea fermentation, fungal biomass, dietary ingredient, broiler chicks



Country: India

Citation: Bioresource technology, 96(16), 1743-1748.

Study Mailing Address:
Department of
Biotechnology, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam 638 401,
India.



Date Updated: March 13, 2020