The Effect of Fermented Dragon Fruit Peel Juice on the Performance and Carcass Production of Quails

Quails are a poultry commodity for meat and egg production that is gaining popularity among the Balinese community. However, raising quail can provide resource for poor families with meet and eggs. The females are very prolific because they begin laying eggs on average at six weeks and in raising male quails, only females are selected to be kept as egg producers, the will selling the male quail to the market to be raised as breeders and marketed in carcass form, as fried quail, roasted quail, quail soup at restaurants and street vendors/Lapak-Lapak.

The widespread use of oral medication in chickens has resulted in the emergence of drug resistance. The application of antibiotics in livestock leads to the risk of transmitting drug-resistant genes to human pathogens (Gould, 2008). The World Health Organization (WHO, 2018) states that the use of antimicrobials in food-producing animals is an important public health risk. To provide an alternative to growth-promoting antibiotics (AGPs), probiotics have been created and added to poultry feed or their drinking water as a promising means of limiting intestinal colonization by disease-causing bacteria. Lately, there’sbeen increasing interest in phytochemicals from dragon fruit peel as a natural substitute for antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs). Numerous plant-based extracts have shown antimicrobial properties and are commonly used in poultry farming to boost productivity (Dewi et al., 2022). Dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus), which was introduced and cultivated in Indonesia around 2000 (Dewi et al., 2016), produces a peel that is mostly discarded as agricultural waste. In spite of this, the peel'sconcentration of antioxidants helps shield cells from harm brought on by free radicals and can lessen oxidative stress in fowl that are subjected to environmental stress. According to Daniel et al. (2014), the peel of dragon fruit contains a large amount of crude fiber (23.39%), which limits its direct inclusion in poultry feed. Bidura (2020) recommended utilizing fibrous herbal materials in the form of water extracts or juices, since fiber is insoluble in water. Pamungkas (2011) also noted that the high fiber and low protein content in local agricultural by-products can hinder their use in animal diets. However, fermentation has been suggested as a solution, as it can breakdown complex organic compounds into simpler, more digestible forms, and improve the taste and aroma, making them more acceptable to animals.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae it has been demonstrated that yeast acts as a probiotic in chickens and improves the digestion of fibrous foods (Bidura et al., 2021; Dewi et al., 2022). The crude fiber content of the feed can be decreased during the yeast fermentation process, improving the birds' ability to use it. According to Tanaka et al. (1992) and cited in Bidura (2020), fermentation products also have the advantage of inhibiting the liver enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, which is involved in the synthesis of cholesterol. There is a lot of potential in using premium Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast as a supplement. There is currently little research on using dragon fruit peel as animal feed. Dragon fruit peel can be safely added to the diet at levels of up to 1% (Ningsih et al., 2017) or even up to 4% without having a negative impact on the health of the livestock, according to Wardani et al. (2023) and Ningsih et al. (2017). Additionally, it has been demonstrated that supplementing 5-week-old broiler chickens with 4% fermented dragon fruit peel using Saccharomyces cerevisiae enhances their performance. The performance of quails aged 1 to 6 weeks was not considerably improved by fermenting dragon fruit peel with Saccharomyces cerevisiae in drinking water, according to research by Stradivari (2021).

Several studies (Bidura, 2020; Bidura et al., 2021; Dewi et al., 2022; Ningsih et al., 2017; Stradivari, 2021) have reported that adding herbal juices to poultry drinking water can significantly improve performance and egg production, as well as reduce feed conversion ratio. Additionally, such supplementation has been shown to significantly lower cholesterol and fat levels in the body. Based on these findings, the present study investigates the effect of administering either non-fermented or fermented dragon fruit peel juice (FDPJ) through drinking water on the performance and carcass characteristics of quails aged 6 to 16 weeks.