MJAS

Manuscript Details

Evaluating Rice-Milling By-products and Palm Kernel Expeller as Alternative Feed Ingredients for Ayam Saga Chickens

Mohammad, M.*, Jamaludin, F.I., Abu Bakar, N., Zakaria, S.H., and Hamidan, M.F.R.

Livestock Science Research Centre, MARDI Headquarters, 43400 Serdang, Selangor

Malaysian J. Anim. Sci. 2025 28(1): 149-159

Click to view the abstract

The Malaysian poultry industry relies heavily on imported feed ingredients such as corn and soybean to fulfil the nutritional requirements for imported chicken breeds, such as Cobb and Ross. To address this, the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) introduced Ayam Saga, a chicken breed suited to local feed ingredients, which is high in fibre. This study evaluated growth, nutrient digestibility, carcass quality and economics of Ayam Saga chickens fed with rice-milling byproducts with a palm kernel expeller (PKE) based diet. Fifty 7-week-old grower Ayam Saga were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments with 25 per group: i) corn-soybean-based diet and ii) rice-milling-byproducts-based diet with 5% palm kernel expeller (PKE), both formulated to be isocaloric (~12 MJ/kg) and isonitrogenous (~19% crude protein). The study was conducted for five weeks. Performance results indicated that chickens fed the ricemilling-byproducts and PKE-based diet had lower feed intake (FI) but achieved similar weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) as those on the corn-soy diet. Carcass analysis showed no significant differences in dressing percentage and thigh weight between the diets, although breast weight was significantly higher in the corn-soy group (P < 0.0001). A nutrient digestibility trial demonstrated that the rice-milling-byproducts and PKE-based diet had better apparent metabolizable energy (AME, 12.68 MJ/kg) and dry matter digestibility compared to the corn-soy diet (AME, 10.77 MJ/kg; P < 0.0001). These findings highlight the potential of rice-milling-byproducts and PKE as sustainable alternatives for local poultry production, without adverse effects on the performances. Further research is needed to refine the inclusion levels of these ingredients to maximize their benefits.