Harnessing of Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) Pomace Powder on Growth Response and Haematological Indices of Sonali Chickens
Md. Ahsan Habib, Manish Halder, Ummay Salma, Md. Nurul Amin, Sabbir Hossen Sabuz, Ayesha Siddika, MD. Al Fattah, Ishrat Jahan, Umesh Kumar YadavABSTRACT
Background
Tomato pomace, a processing by‐product rich in lycopene and polyphenols, has not yet been systematically evaluated as a functional dietary supplement for Sonali chickens in Bangladesh.
Objective
This study assessed the dose‐dependent effects of dried tomato pomace powder (TPP) as a dietary additive on the growth performance, feed efficiency, carcass traits, haematological indices and economic returns of Sonali chickens under tropical conditions in Bangladesh.
Methods
A total of 180, one day‐old Sonali chicks were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments, T 0 (basal diet), T 1 (basal diet + 2% TPP), T 2 (basal diet + 4% TPP) and T 3 (basal diet + 6% TPP), with three replicates of 15 birds each, and reared for 63 days at the Central Poultry Farm, HSTU, Dinajpur, Bangladesh.
Results
The T 3 group achieved the highest final live body weight, the greatest weight gain and the most efficient feed conversion, followed by T 2 , T 1 and T 0 ( p < 0.05). Carcass weight and breast, thigh and drumstick yields were significantly higher in T 3 . Blood analysis showed significantly lower total cholesterol and LDL together with higher HDL in the T 3 group. The economic analysis indicated that T 3 generated the highest net profit per bird, differing significantly from T 0 ( p < 0.05).
Conclusion
Supplementing the diet with dried TPP at 6% significantly improved growth performance, carcass quality, lipid metabolism and financial returns in Sonali chickens, indicating that it is a viable, low‐cost functional feed supplement for tropical poultry production systems.