EFFECTS OF LYSINE LEVELS WITH DIGESTIBLE AMINO ACIDS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, CARCASS EVALUATION, PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS OF ASEEL CHICKEN MUNAWAR HUSSAIN 2014-VA-509 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POULTRY PRODUCTION UNIVERSITY OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES LAHORE, PAKISTAN 2018 To, The Controller of Examinations, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore. We, the Supervisory Committee, certify that the contents and form of the thesis, submitted by Munawar Hussain, Reg. # 2014-VA-509 have been found satisfactory and recommend that it be processed for the evaluation by the External Examiner (s) for award of the Degree. Supervisor ___________________________________________ (Prof. Dr. Athar Mahmud) Member ___________________________________________ (Dr. Jibran Hussain) Member ___________________________________________ (Dr. Shafqat Nawaz Qaisrani) DEDICATION This work is dedicated to My Beloved Parents& Family My Teachers especially Prof. Dr. Muhammad Akram i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All praises and thanks to ALMIGHTY ALLAH, the Lord of the worlds, the Omnipotent, the most Beneficent, the Merciful and the Gracious. Who is the creator of this world and heavens, the lord of the Day of Judgment, who is the entire source of knowledge and wisdom and endowed it to the mankind. The work described in this thesis was made possible by contributions from various individuals and institutions to whom I am indebted. I thank all those who, in different ways, have walked beside me along the way; offering support and encouragement, challenging my thinking, and teaching me to consider alternative views. The author would like to express his deep appreciation and thanks to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Athar Mahmud, Chairman, Department of Poultry Production and members, Dr. Jibran Hussain, Assistant Professor, Department of Poultry Production and Dr. Shafqat Nawaz Qaisrani, Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Nutrition, UVAS, Lahore, for their dynamic supervision, scholastic and constructive suggestions throughout the course of my studies, research and accomplishment of this manuscript. I cannot find words to express my gratitude to Dr. Shahid Mehmood, Assistant Professor who guided me during my research work. All my prayers are due to Late Prof. Dr. Muhammad Akram, for his precious guidance. I would like to thank Mr. Sohail Ahmad, Mr. Faisal Hussnain, and Mr. Muhammad Usman, lecturers, Department of Poultry Production, UVAS, Lahore. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of anonymous readers and administration of SB Feeds Rawalpindi, Sindh Feeds Karachi, Islamabad Feeds Okara and ICGRC, Department of Poultry Production, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore. The expert guidance of Dr. Gulraiz Ahmed and Dr. Shahid Waheed Group Nutritionist and QA Manger (Feed) of SB Poultry, Rawalpindi is highly remarkable. They were so kind to me. I am grateful to my dear friends Mr. Abdul Ghayas, Mr. Muhammad Tahir Khan, Mr. Abd ur Rehman Butt for his cooperation throughout the research. Thanks are also due to Dr. Aziz ur Rehman and Mr. Abd ur Rehman for the technical help and useful suggestions during writing of this manuscript. I owe my special thanks to all of my classmates and friends for their company and moral support. Last but not least, warm thanks to my parents, brothers’ sister and wife; for support, moral strength and material welfare throughout my life and for being there for me during this time. Your love, encouragement and prayers made a big difference. ‘O’ Allah My Lord, I am in absolute need of the good You send me (Aamin). Munawar Hussain ii CONTENTS DEDICATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii LIST OF TABLES iii LIST OF FIGURES vi ABSTRACT vii SR. NO. CHAPTER PAGE NO. 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 4 3 EXPERIMENT-I 36 4 EXPERIMENT-II 72 5 EXPERIMENT-III 91 6 SUMMARY 109 iii LIST OF TABLES TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE NO. 2.1 Body weight of Aseel at different ages 8 2.2 Egg weight in Aseel breed 10 2.3 Reproductive traits of Aseel 11 3.1.1 Feed formulation and nutrients calculations 48 Growth performance of indigenous chicken in response to 3.1.2 49 dietary amino acid regimens Effect of dietary amino acid densities on immune 3.1.3 50 responses of birds Effect of dietary amino acid densities on body 3.1.4 51 conformation traits of birds 3.2.1 Ingredient and nutrients composition of diets 69 Growth performance, lysine efficiency ratio and mortality 3.2.2 70 at six weeks of age Effect of dietary amino acid regimens on meat composition 3.2.3 71 traits of Aseel varieties 4.1 Ingredient and nutrients composition of diets 87 Weight gain, final body weight, feed to gain ratio and 4.2 88 mortality at 18 weeks of age Chemical composition of thigh and breast muscles of local 4.3 89 Aseel subsequent to dietary lysine regimens 4.4 Carcass characteristics of local Aseel at 18 weeks of age 90 iv 5.1 Ingredient and nutrient composition of diets 104 Productive performance of local Aseel subsequent to 5.2 105 dietary lysine regimens Egg geometry characteristics of local Aseel subsequent to 5.3 106 dietary lysine regimens Egg quality characteristics of local Aseel subsequent to 5.4 107 dietary lysine regimens Hatching traits of local Aseel subsequent to dietary lysine 5.5 108 regimens v LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE NO. Phase-wise weight gain and feed to gain ratio in varying 3.1.1 52 lysine diets vi ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effect of varying dietary lysine (Lys) levels on growth, meat quality, productive and reproductive performance of Aseel chicken. Study was carried out in three phases, during first phase effect of dietary lysine (Lys) regimens was evaluated on growth performance and meat composition of Aseel chicken (Experiment 1). In total 540 birds, 180 from three Aseel varieties were studied. A Randomized Complete Block Design in factorial arrangement, with 9 treatments of 6 replicates with 10 birds each, was applied. Treatments consisted of 3 varieties [Mianwali (MW), Peshawari (PW), and Lakha (LK)] and 3 Lys levels [1.35% (L1); 1.3% (L2); and 1.25% (L3)]. Growth performance (feed intake, weight gain, and feed: gain ratio) and meat composition (dry matter, ash, crude protein, and fat contents) were evaluated. In phase two, effect of dietary Lys regimens was evaluated on subsequent growth (7-18 weeks) of Aseel chicken (Experiment 2). In total 378 birds, 126 from three Aseel varieties. A Randomized Complete Block Design under factorial arrangement, with 9 treatments of 6 replicates with 7 birds each, was employed. Treatments consisted of 3 varieties [Mianwali (MW), Peshawari (PW), and Lakha (LK)] and 3 Lys levels [1.35% (L1); 1.3% (L2); and 1.25% (L3)]. Growth performance (feed intake, weight gain, and feed: gain ratio) were evaluated. In phase three, effect of dietary Lys regimens was evaluated on productive performance, egg characteristics and hatching traits of Aseel chickens (Experiment 3). In total 63 females and 9 males of 26 weeks were studied. Randomized Complete Block Design under factorial arrangement, with 9 treatments of 7 replicates with 7 females and 1 male each, was employed. Treatments consisted of 3 varieties [Mianwali (MW), Peshawari (PW), and Lakha (LK)] and 3 Lys levels [1.35% (L1); 1.3% (L2); and 1.25% (L3)]. Productive performance (egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed per dozen eggs and feed per Kg egg mass), egg characteristics (shape index, surface area and volume) and hatching traits (fertility and hatchability) were evaluated. Data were analyzed through factorial ANOVA using GLM vii procedures in SAS software, considering varieties and Lys levels as main effects and sex as block effect. Turkey’s HSD test was used to compare treatment means considering 5% probability level. There was significant influence of varieties and Lys levels on growth and meat quality. Improved WG (P=0.0002; 424.1±8.1) and F: G (P=0.0006; 2.84±0.05) was observed in MW variety as compared to PW (WG: 411.5±6.3; F: G=2.95±0.05) and LK (WG: 401.5±9.3; F: G=3.02±0.08). Among different (P<.0001) Lys regimens, higher and medium levels in the diet resulted in improved WG (423.3±8.2; 428.2±4.9), F: G (2.79±0.05; 2.80±0.03) and reduced FI (1175.8±3.7; 1198.0±5.4). Among dietary treatments medium dietary Lys regimen showed improved WG, F: G and final WG. Increased dry matter (P=0.0036; 73.80±0.17), lower ash contents (P<.0001; 1.23±0.03) and lower crude protein (P=0.0064; 21.97±0.17) contents were observed in thigh at medium Lys levels, whereas only difference (P=0.0150; 1.30±0.04) in ash was found in breast with low Lys diet. While, the breast muscle ash % was lower for MW and PW variety (P<.0001; 1.30±0.03, 1.31±0.05). In subsequent phase results indicated higher WG (P<.0001; 1244.4±15.2) and improved F: G (P<.0001; 2.82±0.03) in MW variety compared to PW (WG: 1113.1±10.4; F: G: 3.05±0.02) and LK (WG: 1161.5±8.75; F: G: 2.94±0.03). For dietary treatments medium dietary Lys regimen showed improved WG, F: G and final WG. Increased dry matter (P=0.0176; 75.03±0.17), lower ash contents (P=0.026; 1.59±0.05) and lower crude protein (P=0.0175; 19.77±0.17) contents were observed in thigh under medium Lys levels, whereas the difference (P=0.0479) in CP was found only in breast, where L1 (22.30±0.17) and L2 (22.37±0.16).