Effects of Mulberry Leaf Meal and Fermented Mulberry Leaf Meal on Slaughter Performance,Meat Quality and Cecum Microflora in Huxu Chicken

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of mulberry leaf meal and fermented mulberry leaf meal on slaughter performance,meat quality and cecum microflora of Huxu chicken at the late growth stage.Three hundred and ninety-two Lingnan Ⅲ Huxu chickens aged ninety-five days were assigned to seven dietary treatments randomly,they were control group,5%,10%,20% mulberry leaf meal groups and 5%,10%,20% fermented mulberry leaf meal groups.Every treatment had 4 replicates,14 chickens per replicates (7 males and 7 females).The pre-trial period was 4 days,and the formal experiment period was 28 days.The results showed as follows:① Compared with the control group,expect the 10% mulberry leaf meal group,the semi-eviscerated percentage were significantly decreased in other experimental groups (P<0.05).Adding 10% mulberry leaf meal or 20% fermenterd mulberry leaf meal extremely significantly reduced the eviscerated percentage (P<0.01) and 10% fermenterd mulberry leaf meal reduced it significantly (P<0.05).The leg muscle percentage of chickens in 5% fermenterd mulberry leaf meal group and 20% mulberry leaf meal group reduced extremely significantly (P<0.01) and significantly (P<0.05),respectively.② Compared with the control group,the shear force of chest muscle in all experimental groups,and leg muscle in all mulberry leaf meal groups decreased,but only the shear force of chest muscle in 10% mulberry leaf meal group decreased significantly (P<0.05).Adding 20% mulberry leaf meal increased the pH_{45 min} of leg muscle significantly (P<0.05).The b^* value of leg muscle reduced in all experimental groups,and only that in the 20% mulberry leaf group reduced significantly (P<0.05).③ Compared with the control group,the number of E.coli of the cecum of chickens in 5% and 10% mulberry leaf meal groups reduced extremely significantly (P<0.05),and the ratio of Lactobacillus to E.coli of cecum in all experimental groups had an increasing trend (P>0.05).All over,the content of mulberry leaf meal in Huxu chickens'diet at the late growth stage could be up to 10%,and fermented mulberry leaf meal could be up to 20%.