Research Article | | Peer-Reviewed

Effect of Earthworm (Eisenia fetida) Supplementation on Production Performance of Layer Chickens

Received: 4 January 2024    Accepted: 15 January 2024    Published: 5 February 2024
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of earthworm supplementation on growth and egg production performance of layer chickens. A total of 96 layers were distributed randomly into four treatment groups with three replications using a completely randomized design. Feeding trial was started when layer were reach at 24 weeks ages. The experimental diets that containing 0 (Control), 0.66, 1.32 and 1.98 % of earthworm (EW) were fed to birds for the duration of twelve weeks. Eggs were collected daily and weighed in every week and then the egg production was calculated as %. Though, body weight measurement was taken at the commencement and at the end of the experimental period; whereas egg quality was evaluated at the middle and then in the last week of experimental period. Feed intake had not statistical difference among treatment groups. Chickens fed with both diets containing 1.32 and 1.98% of EW showed an increment in bodyweight change and egg production. The hen day egg production (HDEP) and hen housed egg production (HHEP) were significantly (P<0.05) higher for hens in T4 than others, but there was no significant (P>0.05) difference between T2 and T3. There was no measurable effect on egg quality due to feeding diets, containing earthworm. Supplementation of 1.98% earthworm in layer diets trigger egg production performances without affecting the quality eggs that starting from 24 week. It is concluded that earthworm supplementation has the potential to improve the egg production performance of laying hens.

Published in International Journal of Animal Science and Technology (Volume 8, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/ijast.20240801.12
Page(s) 8-13
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Earthworm, Egg Production, Layer Chicken, Supplementation

References
[1] FAO. 2017. The future of food and agriculture: Trends and challenges. Rome.
[2] Bahadori, Z., Esmaylzadeh, L., & Karimi-Torshizi, M. A. S. 2015. The effect of earthworm (Eisenia foetida) and vermi-humus meal in diet on broiler chicken efficiency and carcass components. Biological Forum, 7, 998–1005.
[3] Van Huis, A. 2020. Insects as food and feed, a new emerging agricultural sector: a review. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed; 6(1): 27-44.
[4] Rezaeipour V, Nejad OA and Miri HY, 2014. Growth performance, blood metabolites and jejunum morphology of broiler chickens fed diets containing earthworm (Eisenia fetida) meal as source of protein. International Journal of Advanced Biological and Biomedical Research, 2(8): 2483-2494.
[5] Bahadori, Z., Esmaielzadeh, L., Karimi-Torshizi, M. A., Seidavi, A., Olivares, J., Rojas, S., Salem, A., Khusro, A., & López, S. (2017). The effect of earthworm (Eisenia foetida) meal with vermi-humus on growth performance, hematology, immunity, intestinal microbiota, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of broiler chickens. Livestock Science, 202, 74–81.
[6] Domínguez, J. and C. A. Edwards (2011). Biology and ecology of earthworm species used for vermicomposting. In: Edwards CA, Arancon NQ and Sherman RL (eds) Vermiculture Technology: Earthworms, Organic Waste and Environmental Management. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 25–37.
[7] Deane (2020). Eat the weeds website. Feedipedia Accessed at http://www.eattheweeds.com/barnyard-grass.
[8] Hasanuzzaman, A., Hossian Sk., and Das, M., 2010. Nutritional potentiality of earthworm (Perionyx excavatus) for substituting fishmeal used in local feed company in Bangladesh. Mesopot. J. Mar. Sci. 25(2): 25-30.
[9] Sogbesan, O. and Ugwumba, A. 2008. Nutritional values of some non-conventional animal protein feedstuffs used as fishmeal supplement in aquaculture practices in Nigeria. Turkish Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 8: 159-164.
[10] Kostecka, J. and Pączka, G., 2006. Possible use of earthworm Eisenia fetida (Sav.) biomass for breeding aquarium fish. European Journal of Soil Biology, 42, pp. S231-S233.
[11] Istiqomah, L., Sofyan, A., Damayanti, E., & Julendra, H. 2009. Amino acid profile of earthworm and earthworm meal (Lumbricus rubellus) for animal feedstuff. Journal of the Indonesian Tropical Animal Agriculture, 34, 253–257.
[12] Harwood, M. 2006. Recovery of protein from poultry waste by earthworms. In: Proceedings of the 1st Australian Poul. Stockfeed Conv., Melbourne 9: 138-143.
[13] Loh, T. C., Fong, L. Y., Foo, H. L., Thanh, N. T., & Sheikh-Omar, A. R. 2009. Utilization of earthworm meal in partial replacement of soybean and fish meals in diets of broilers. Journal of Applied Animal Research, 36, 29–32.
[14] Sharma S, Pradhan K, Staya S, Vasudevan P (2005) Potentially of earthworms for waste management and in other uses- a review. J Am Sci 1: 4–16.
[15] AOAC. 1995. Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Official Methods of Analysis Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 15th edition. Ed. Helrich, K. Association Official Analytical Chemists, Inc., Suite, 400, Arlington, Virginia. 3. 685-1298.
[16] Hunton, P., 1995. Egg production, processing and marketing. World Poultry Science, Elsevier, Tokyo, pp. 457-480.
[17] Anderson, K., Tharrington, P., Curtis, F., and Jones, T., 2004. Shell characteristics of eggs from historic strains of single comb white leghorn chickens and relationship of egg shape to shell strength. International Journal of Poultry Science 3, 17-19.
[18] Haugh, R., 1937. The Haugh unit for measuring egg quality. US Egg. Poult. Mag. 43, 572-573.
[19] SAS. (2002) Statistical analysis systems. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA.
[20] Tacon A G J, Metian M (2008). Global overview on the use of fish meal and fish oil in industrially compounded aqua feeds. Aquaculture 285: 146-158.
[21] Ganguly, A. Anand, and P. Haldar, 2010. Potential value of earthworms as high protein supplement for poultry feed. International Journal of Poultry Science 7: 722-725.
[22] Guerrero, R. D. 2010. The culture and use of Eisenia fotida as protein resource in the Philippines. In: J. E. Satchell (Ed.), Earthworm Ecology, Chapman and Hall, London 5: 309-319.
[23] Kasye, M, 2016. Evaluation of Earthworm (Eisenia fetida) for Chicken Production in Haramaya University Poultry Farm (Doctoral dissertation, Haramaya University).
[24] Ntukuyoh, A., Udiong, D. S., Ikpe, E and Akpakpan, E. 2012. Evaluation of Nutritional Value of earthworm (Eisenia fetida): Soldiers, Workers, and Queen in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. International Journal of Food Nutrition and Safety 1: 60- 65.
[25] Leeson S, and Summers J, 2005 Commercial Poultry Nutrition, 3rd edn. Univ. Books, Guelph.
[26] Sofyan, A., Julendra, A., Julendra, H., Damayanti, E., Sutrisno, B., & Wibowo, M. H., 2010. Performa dan histopatalogyi ayam broiler yang diinfeksiden gan Salmonella pullorum setelah pemberian imbuhan pakan mengandung tepung caciing tanah (Lummricus rubellus). Media Peternakan, 33, 31-35.
[27] Khatun, A., Carlos, A., Luois, A. and Hebel, P., 2012. Nutritional and toxicological evaluation of earthworm (Eisenia foetida) meal as protein source for animal feed. Animal Feed Science and Technology 42: 165- 172.
[28] Son, (2009). The study on treatment of poultry waste by earthworms, and the effect of feeding earthworms’ meal on the performance of broilers and laying hens, and safety of meat and egg. Korean J. Organic Agric., 17 (1): 63-82.
[29] Khalil, D. Hohler, and H. Henkel. 2005. Utilization of rice bran, earthworm meal and peanut meal in broilers. Characterization of the feed efficiency of rice bran/peanut meal diet. Arch. Gefluegelkd. 61: 88-94.
[30] Mekada, H., N. Hayashi, H. Yokota, J. Okumura (1979). Performance of growing and laying chickens fed diets containing earthworms (Eisenia foetida). Japan. Poult. Sci., 16: 293- 297.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Taye, S., Tesfaye, E., Edea, C., Alewi, M. (2024). Effect of Earthworm (Eisenia fetida) Supplementation on Production Performance of Layer Chickens. International Journal of Animal Science and Technology, 8(1), 8-13. https://doi.org/10.11648/ijast.20240801.12

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Taye, S.; Tesfaye, E.; Edea, C.; Alewi, M. Effect of Earthworm (Eisenia fetida) Supplementation on Production Performance of Layer Chickens. Int. J. Anim. Sci. Technol. 2024, 8(1), 8-13. doi: 10.11648/ijast.20240801.12

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Taye S, Tesfaye E, Edea C, Alewi M. Effect of Earthworm (Eisenia fetida) Supplementation on Production Performance of Layer Chickens. Int J Anim Sci Technol. 2024;8(1):8-13. doi: 10.11648/ijast.20240801.12

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/ijast.20240801.12,
      author = {Shambel Taye and Etalem Tesfaye and Chala Edea and Misba Alewi},
      title = {Effect of Earthworm (Eisenia fetida) Supplementation on Production Performance of Layer Chickens},
      journal = {International Journal of Animal Science and Technology},
      volume = {8},
      number = {1},
      pages = {8-13},
      doi = {10.11648/ijast.20240801.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/ijast.20240801.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.ijast.20240801.12},
      abstract = {The present study aimed to investigate the effect of earthworm supplementation on growth and egg production performance of layer chickens. A total of 96 layers were distributed randomly into four treatment groups with three replications using a completely randomized design. Feeding trial was started when layer were reach at 24 weeks ages. The experimental diets that containing 0 (Control), 0.66, 1.32 and 1.98 % of earthworm (EW) were fed to birds for the duration of twelve weeks. Eggs were collected daily and weighed in every week and then the egg production was calculated as %. Though, body weight measurement was taken at the commencement and at the end of the experimental period; whereas egg quality was evaluated at the middle and then in the last week of experimental period. Feed intake had not statistical difference among treatment groups. Chickens fed with both diets containing 1.32 and 1.98% of EW showed an increment in bodyweight change and egg production. The hen day egg production (HDEP) and hen housed egg production (HHEP) were significantly (P4 than others, but there was no significant (P>0.05) difference between T2 and T3. There was no measurable effect on egg quality due to feeding diets, containing earthworm. Supplementation of 1.98% earthworm in layer diets trigger egg production performances without affecting the quality eggs that starting from 24 week. It is concluded that earthworm supplementation has the potential to improve the egg production performance of laying hens.
    },
     year = {2024}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Effect of Earthworm (Eisenia fetida) Supplementation on Production Performance of Layer Chickens
    AU  - Shambel Taye
    AU  - Etalem Tesfaye
    AU  - Chala Edea
    AU  - Misba Alewi
    Y1  - 2024/02/05
    PY  - 2024
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/ijast.20240801.12
    DO  - 10.11648/ijast.20240801.12
    T2  - International Journal of Animal Science and Technology
    JF  - International Journal of Animal Science and Technology
    JO  - International Journal of Animal Science and Technology
    SP  - 8
    EP  - 13
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2640-1312
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/ijast.20240801.12
    AB  - The present study aimed to investigate the effect of earthworm supplementation on growth and egg production performance of layer chickens. A total of 96 layers were distributed randomly into four treatment groups with three replications using a completely randomized design. Feeding trial was started when layer were reach at 24 weeks ages. The experimental diets that containing 0 (Control), 0.66, 1.32 and 1.98 % of earthworm (EW) were fed to birds for the duration of twelve weeks. Eggs were collected daily and weighed in every week and then the egg production was calculated as %. Though, body weight measurement was taken at the commencement and at the end of the experimental period; whereas egg quality was evaluated at the middle and then in the last week of experimental period. Feed intake had not statistical difference among treatment groups. Chickens fed with both diets containing 1.32 and 1.98% of EW showed an increment in bodyweight change and egg production. The hen day egg production (HDEP) and hen housed egg production (HHEP) were significantly (P4 than others, but there was no significant (P>0.05) difference between T2 and T3. There was no measurable effect on egg quality due to feeding diets, containing earthworm. Supplementation of 1.98% earthworm in layer diets trigger egg production performances without affecting the quality eggs that starting from 24 week. It is concluded that earthworm supplementation has the potential to improve the egg production performance of laying hens.
    
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Debreziet Agricultural Research Center, Bishoftu, Ethiopia

  • Debreziet Agricultural Research Center, Bishoftu, Ethiopia

  • Debreziet Agricultural Research Center, Bishoftu, Ethiopia

  • Debreziet Agricultural Research Center, Bishoftu, Ethiopia

  • Sections