Effect of amaranth leaf meal on performance, meat and bone characteristics of Boschveld indigenous chickens

Figures & data

Table 1. Proximate composition (g/100g), gross energy (kcal/g), and amino acids composition (%) of Amaranthus cruentus leaf meal.

Composition (g/100g)	ACLM
DM	92.65
CP	23.23
CF	17.14
NDF	15.40
ADF	7.14
ADL	1.95
GE	14.50
EE	1.12
Starch	0.38
Ash	21.18
Amino acids
Histidine	0.29
Arginine	0.90
Threonine	0.85
Lysine	1.73
Tyrosine	0.52
Methionine	0.34
Valine	1.51
Leucine	1.55
Serine	0.90
Glycine	0.94
Aspartic acid	2.16
Glutamine	2.94
Alanine	1.27
Proline	0.87
Isoleucine	0.83
Phenylalanine	0.66

Values are means of duplicate analysed amaranth leaves samples. DM: Dry Matter; CP: Crude Protein; CF: Crude Fibre; NDF, Neutral Detergent Fibre,; ADF: Acid Detergent Fibre; ADL: Acid Detergent Lignin; GE: Gross Energy; EE: Ether Extracts.

Table 2. Ingredients and calculated analysis of experimental starter diet.

Amaranth leaf meal (ALM) inclusion levels (%)
Ingredients	0	5	10	15	20
Maize (11.0% CP)	50.70	46.70	44.70	41.70	37.70
Groundnut cake (45.0% CP)	33.00	32.00	29.00	27.00	26.00
Soya bean meal (45.0% CP)	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.00
Fish meal (68.0% CP)	2.00	2.00	2.00	2.00	2.00
Bone meal (%)	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50
Limestone (%)	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
Salt (Nacl) (%)	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
DL-methionine (%)	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15
DL-Lysine (%)	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15
Premix^a (%)	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
ALM	0.00	5.00	10.00	15.00	20.00
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Calculated analysis
Crude protein (%)	23.42	23.41	23.39	23.41	23.40
Crude fibre (%)	4.31	4.42	4.71	4.70	4.85
Ether extract (%)	7.21	6.41	6.40	6.71	6.51
GE(kcal/100g)	462.4	462.3	462.1	461.5	461.7

^a The ingredients contained in the vitamin–mineral premix were as follows (per kg of diet): vitamin A 12000 IU, vitamin D3 3500 IU, vitamin E 30.0 mg, vitamin K 3 2.0 mg, thiamine 2 mg, riboflavin 6 mg, pyridoxine 5 mg, vitamin B12 0.02 mg, niacin 50 mg, pantothenate 12 mg, biotin 0.01 mg, folic acid 2 mg, Fe 60 mg, Zn 60 mg, Mn 80 mg, Cu 8 mg, Se 0.1 mg, Mo 1 mg, Co 0.3 mg, I 1 mg. ALM: Amaranth Leaf Meal.

Table 3. Ingredients and calculated analysis of experimental grower diet.

Amaranth leaf meal (ALM) inclusion levels (%)
Ingredients	0	5	10	15	20
Maize (%)	40.00	40.00	40.00	40.00	40.00
Groundnut oil cake (45.0% CP)	20.00	18.00	15.00	12.00	10.00
Soya bean meal (45.0% CP)	8.00	8.00	8.00	8.00	8.00
Fish meal (%)	2.00	2.00	2.00	2.00	2.00
Wheat offals (%)	25.70	22.70	20.70	18.70	15.70
Bone meal (%)	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50	2.50
Limestone (%)	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
Salt (NaCl) (%)	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
Dl-Methionine (%)	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15
L-Lysine (%)	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15
Vit/Min Premix^a (%)	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50	0.50
ALM	0.00	5.00	10.00	15.00	20.00
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Calculated analysis
Crude protein (%)	20.00	20.00	20.00	20.00	20.00
Crude fibre (%)	4.52	4.57	4.71	4.70	4.73
Ether extract (%)	7.21	6.41	6.40	6.71	6.51
GE (kcal/100g)	462.40	462.30	462.10	461.50	461.70

^a The ingredients contained in the vitamin–mineral premix were as follows (per kg of diet): vitamin A 12000 IU, vitamin D3 3500 IU, vitamin E 30.0 mg, vitamin K 3 2.0 mg, thiamine 2 mg, riboflavin 6 mg, pyridoxine 5 mg, vitamin B12 0.02 mg, niacin 50 mg, pantothenate 12 mg, biotin 0.01 mg, folic acid 2 mg, Fe 60 mg, Zn 60 mg, Mn 80 mg, Cu 8 mg, Se 0.1 mg, Mo 1 mg, Co 0.3 mg, I 1 mg. ALM: Amaranth Leaf Meal.

Table 4. Evaluation score used by the sensory panel.

	Breast meat
Score	Tenderness	Juiciness	Flavour	Overall acceptability
1	Too tough	Much too dry	Very bad flavour	Strongly dislike
2	Tough	Dry	Poor Flavour	Dislike
3	Neither tough nor tender	Neither dry nor juicy	Neither bad nor good flavour	Neither dislike nor like
4	Tender	Juicy	Good flavour	Like
5	Too tender	Too juicy	Very good flavour	Strongly like

Table 5. Effect of amaranth inclusion leaf meal (AML) on initial weight (IW), final weight (FW), average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion ratio of Indigenous Boschveld chicken aged 91 days.

	IW (g)	FW (g)	ADG(g)	ADFI (g)	FCR
AML%
0	32.36	1358.75	14.93	32.79	2.19
5	31.54	1531.71	16.83	31.32	1.86
10	31.96	1498.42	16.47	32.33	1.96
15	31.68	1559.06	17.13	34.76	2.02
20	31.74	1554.30	17.08	35.09	2.05
SEM	0.602	67.555	0.013	1.706	0.104
P-Value
Treatment	0.886	0.564	0.679	0.489	0.318
Linear	0.343	0.104	0.104	0.115	0.802
Quadratic	0.508	0.183	0.181	0.209	0.415

Diets: AML0% = a diet having no amaranth leaf meal inclusion, AML5%= a diet having 5 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion, AML10% = a diet having 10 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. AML15% = a diet having 15 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. AML20% = a diet having 20 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. SEM: standard error of the mean.

Table 6. Effect of amaranth leaf meal (ALM) inclusion on meat part weights (g) of indigenous Boschveld chickens.

	Parameters
ALM%	Carcase	Breast	Thigh	Drumstick	Abdominal Fats
42 days
0	283.3	69.70	23.00	23.95	0.27
5	307	67.19	22.59	23.56	0.39
10	528.7	158.46	38.35	37.21	1.30
15	278.1	64.96	21.38	22.17	0.32
20	265.8	65.38	21.46	20.92	0.36
SEM	107.657	38.820	7.500	6.291	0.483
P-value
Treatment	0.412	0.385	0.464	0.389	0.545
Linear	0.884	0.947	0.882	0.775	0.949
Quadratic	0.560	0.659	0.653	0.592	0.600
91 days
0	938.17	221.45^a	85.37	83.27	3.92^b
5	877.50	189.37^b	77.60	77.37	3.32^bc
10	906.67	223.02^a	76.65	81.80	4.02^b
15	745.32	180.17^b	68.50	60.42	7.25^a
20	785.15	194.52^b	72.47	73.32	2.20^c
SEM	67.243	14.768	7.361	9.035	1.985
P-value
Treatment	0.063	0.023	0.078	0.091	0.016
Linear	0.072	0.377	0.053	0.248	0.948
Quadratic	0.286	0.724	0.117	0.565	0.974

^a,b,c,Means in the same row not sharing a common superscript are different (p < .05), Diets: ALM0%= a diet having no amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM5%= a diet having 5 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM10% =a diet having 10 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM15%= a diet having 15 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM20% = a diet having 20 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. SEM: standard error of the mean.

Table 7. Effect of amaranth leaf meal (ALM) inclusion on meat parts pH of Indigenous Boschveld chickens.

	Parameters
ALM%	Breast	Thigh	Drumstick
42 days
0	5.80	6.37	6.32
5	5.93	6.05	6.55
10	6.01	6.22	5.97
15	5.94	6.25	6.43
20	5.73	6.44	6.36
SEM	0.222	0.230	0.223
P-value
Treatment	0.314	0.412	0.385
Linear	0.771	0.554	0.963
Quadratic	0.069	0.258	0.926
91 days
0	5.75	6.06	6.18
5	5.57	5.96	6.17
10	5.63	6.03	6.15
15	5.63	6.04	6.10
20	5.72	6.24	6.40
SEM	0.087	0.139	0.095
P-value
Treatment	0.657	0.786	0.464
Linear	1.000	0.219	0.386
Quadratic	0.238	0.077	0.283

Diets: ALM0%= a diet having no amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM5%= a diet having 5 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM10% =a diet having 10 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM15%= a diet having 15 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM20% = a diet having 20 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. SEM: standard error of the mean

Table 8. Effect of amaranth leaf meal (ALM) inclusion on sensory attributes, cooking loss, and shear force values of indigenous Boschveld chickens.

	Breast
ALM%	Juiciness	Flavour	Tenderness	Overall acceptability	Cooking loss	Shear force
0	3.00	3.33	2.33^c	3.00	37.15	17.72^a
5	4.00	3.67	4.00^a	3.67	34.37	15.20^b
10	3.33	3.33	3.00^bc	3.67	33.98	14.28^b
15	3.66	3.67	3.67^ab	3.33	25.14	12.95^c
20	3.33	3.67	3.00^bc	3.33	29.87	17.77^a
SEM	0.258	0.333	0.211	0.298	4.114	0.404
P-value
Treatment	0.147	0.871	0.002	0.512	0.065	0.003
Linear	0.006	0.058	0.005	0.772	0.101	0.798
Quadratic	0.044	0.190	0.053	0.329	0.319	0.172

Diets: ALM0%= a diet having no amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM5%= a diet having 5 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM10% =a diet having 10 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM15%= a diet having 15 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM20% = a diet having 20 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. SEM: standard error of the mean.

Table 9. Effect of amaranth leaf meal (ALM) inclusion on breast meat colour of Indigenous Boschveld chickens.

	Breast
ALM%	L*	a*	b*
0	45.27^b	−0.25^b	8.93^b
5	45.06^b	−0.73^b	9.53^b
10	43.92^b	−1.29^b	10.65^b
15	49.92^a	0.11^a	16.14^a
20	42.60^b	−0.20^b	9.60^b
SEM	1.26	0.960	1.522
P-value
Treatment	0.020	0.017	0.040
Linear	0.965	0.550	0.475
Quadratic	0.882	0.858	0.618

Diets: ALM0%= a diet having no amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM5%= a diet having 5 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM10% =a diet having 10 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM15%= a diet having 15 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM20% = a diet having 20 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. SEM: standard error of the mean; L* is the lightness; a* is the redness; and b* is the yellowness.

Table 10. Effect of amaranth leaf meal (ALM) inclusion on bone characteristics of Indigenous Boschveld chickens.

	Tibia				Femur
	Length	Weight	Diameter	S index	Length	Weight	Diameter	S index
ALM%
21days
0	4.12	0.79	1.57^b	0.19	3.00	0.44	2.26^bc	0.14
5	4.25	0.83	2.07^a	0.19	2.87	0.35	3.06^a	0.12
10	3.87	0.75	1.06^c	0.19	2.87	0.30	1.94 ^cd	0.10
15	4.00	0.64	2.02^a	0.16	2.57	0.27	2.82^ab	0.10
20	4.22	0.69	1.61^b	0.16	2.57	0.24	1.29^d	0.09
SEM	0.168	0.131	0.119	0.028	0.153	0.093	0.228	0.028
P-value
Treatment	0.505	0.854	0.0002	0.278	0.225	0.604	0.0005	0.581
Linear	0.936	0.097	0.985	0.058	0.018	0.007	0.404	0.014
Quadratic	0.657	0.344	0.997	0.190	0.118	0.007	0.509	0.029
42 days
0	7.62	3.59	4.25	0.47	5.47	2.66	5.12	0.48
5	7.73	3.58	4.25	0.46	5.62	2.62	4.62	0.46
10	7.43	3.33	4.00	0.44	5.43	2.66	4.75	0.47
15	7.43	3.19	4.00	0.42	5.43	2.46	4.75	0.45
20	7.30	3.05	3.75	0.41	5.20	2.15	4.50	0.24
SEM	0.133	0.261	0.232	0.028	0.221	0.211	0.218	0.055
P-value
Treatment	0.205	0.529	0.539	0.230	0.079	0.402	0.379	0.512
Linear	0.056	0.004	0.015	0.001	0.130	0.063	0.140	0.132
Quadratic	0.226	0.039	0.082	0.015	0.156	0.034	0.385	0.122
91 days
0	12.67	12.27^a	6.50	0.97^a	8.77^a	8.32	7.75	0.96
5	11.70	8.17^b	7.00	0.69^b	8.50^ab	7.12	7.75	0.84
10	12.70	9.95^b	6.75	0.78^ab	8.47^ab	7.87	7.75	0.92
15	11.97	11.90^a	6.25	0.99^a	7.22^b	6.17	7.00	0.89
20	11.97	10.62^ab	7.00	0.89^ab	8.22^b	7.90	6.75	0.96
SEM	0.397	0.893	0.555	0.073	0.312	0.943	0.428	0.133
P-value
Treatment	0.715	0.032	0.325	0.031	0.024	0.052	0.078	0.061
Linear	0.513	0.947	0.846	0.780	0.258	0.583	0.042	0.803
Quadratic	0.842	0.775	0.975	0.717	0.521	0.600	0.086	0.471

Diets: ALM0%= a diet having no amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM5%= a diet having 5 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM10% =a diet having 10 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM15%= a diet having 15 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM20% = a diet having 20 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. SEM: standard error of the mean.

S index: Seedor index

Table 11. Effect of amaranth leaf meal (ALM) inclusion on bone minerals of indigenous Boschveld chickens.

Tibia			Femur
	Ca	P	Ca	P
ALM%
21days
0	19.34^e	8.37^d	30.00^e	10.89
5	22.38^b	9.63^b	32.71^c	11.09
10	19.91^d	8.38^d	31.53^d	11.06
15	22.91^a	19.34^a	33.24^b	11.44
20	21.93^c	8.43^c	33.80^a	11.42
SEM	0.012	0.014	0.012	0.022
P-value
Treatment	<.0001	<.0001	<.0001	<.0001
Linear	0.313	0.594	0.069	0.024
Quadratic	0.624	0.780	0.264	0.142
42 days
0	28.48^e	9.59^d	29.55^e	8.61^e
5	31.67^d	10.78^b	32.54^c	9.42^c
10	32.57^c	10.62^c	32.54^d	9.25^d
15	33.49^a	11.02^a	34.20^a	10.26^b
20	33.22^b	11.04^a	33.29^b	11.48^a
SEM	0.020	0.022	0.050	0.022
P-value
Treatment	<.0001	<.0001	<.0001	<.0001
Linear	0.049	0.080	0.084	0.017
Quadratic	0.018	0.148	0.094	0.057

Diets: ALM0%= a diet having no amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM5%= a diet having 5 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion, ALM10% =a diet having 10 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM15%= a diet having 15 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. ALM20% = a diet having 20 g/kg of amaranth leaf meal inclusion. SEM: standard error of the mean

Data availability statement

Data is available on request from the corresponding author.