LAUSR

Dried Fermented Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) (DFG) was made by adding ground ginger to Japanese Mugwort (Artemisia princeps Pamp.) Silage juice (JMS) liquid. DFG is known to increase egg production performance of layer chickens and body weight gain in broilers. However, DFG has high production costs. Therefore, to develop a cheaper and more suitable agricultural by-product than the present expensive DFG to improve egg production performance, corncob powder was fermented with waste JMS. This Fermented Corncob Powder (FCP) and/or DFG was/ were fed in small amounts to layer hens from 53-61 weeks of age, as well as from 62-71 weeks of age, and the hens’ egg production performance and egg quality were compared. At the end of the second phase, Triglyceride (TG), High-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and Low-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) concentrations were determined. Egg production performance did not differ among groups. The dietary 50ppm DFG + 250ppm FCP and 500ppm FCP elevated the shell weight, albumen weight and yolk color from 53-61 weeks of age, as well as the albumen weight from 62-71 weeks of age (P<0.05). The dietary 500ppm FCP increased blood HDL (P<0.05). When the egg mass of the control was expressed as an index of 100, most values for egg production, egg quality and blood TG, HDL and LDL were higher after feeding dietary DFG and FCP; the exception was the values for LDL, which were decreased in the 50ppm DFG and 50ppm DFG + 250ppm FCP groups. These results suggest that even a low concentration of DFG can be used as feed supplement for layer hens when FCP is added, and that even corncobs of low commercial value can also be used as a feed supplement with fermented JMS. Furthermore, DFG and FCP can be used as a functional feed to improve chicken health without inducing an environmental contamination. The current discovery benefits not only the poultry farming industry, due to lowered feed costs, but also human life due to the effective utilization of waste food.