Utilization of Eco-Feed Containing Mugwort Microorganism Compounds as a Feed Ingredient Source for Layer Hens

Problem statement: Due to price hikes in feed, several strategies should be sought to reduce feeding costs. At the same time, there has been a considerable increase in environmental pollution from food waste. If food waste could be transferred into poultry diets, this would solve a great problem, helping poultry producers to reduce feeding costs, while reducing environmental problems arising from the disposal of food waste. The present study was performed to evaluate the possibility that Eco-feed (feed produced from recycled food waste) can be used as a feed ingredient source for layer hens. Approach: To promote the quality of conventional Eco-feed, it was sunk into Japanese Mugwort Silage Juice (JMSJ) including microorganism compounds and combined with a compound of microorganisms derived from JMSJ, resulting in Eco-feed Containing Mugwort microorganism compounds (ECM). Thirty-two 56-wk-old White Leghorn hens were divided into 4 groups of 8 birds each. They were fed 0 (control), 10, 20 or 30% dietary ECM for 12 weeks. Results: Compared with the control, although the chickens in all the experimental groups consumed less feed (p<0.001), production performance in the 10 and 20% ECM groups did not decrease. None of the experimental groups were affected in terms of egg weight, shell strength, shell weight, shell thickness, albumen height, albumen weight, yolk weight, yolk color or Haugh unit. Conclusion: These results indicate that ECM can be a useful feed ingredient in commercial diets for laying hens at levels up to 20%.