Chemical Composition, Nutritent Digestibility and Metabolizable Energy of Shiitake Mushroom Stalk Meal

Abstract

Shiitake mushroom stalk meal (SMM), which remains after the fruiting body is separated from the whole mushroom, had high moisture content (90%), and took four days to sun-dry or two days to dry in an electrical oven at 65°C. The chemical composition of the dry matter (DM) component was 15.11% crude protein (CP), 0.87% ether extract (EE), 27.87% crude fiber (CF), 49.18% nitrogen free extract (NFE),0.47% calcium (Ca) and 0.35% phosphorus (P). The CP, EE and P content in SMM were 66, 40 and 67% in the whole mushroom, respectively. The present findings that the SMM does not always fall far below rice bran in chemical composition suggest that the SMM has a possibility to be utilized as an alternative poultry feed. True digestibility (TD) and metabolizable energy (ME) of SMM were determined using six Rhode Island Red cocks (one year old, 3.0kg) and six broiler cockerels (nine weeks old, 2.3kg). The digestibility of SMM in both chicken strains was almost the same, and averages were 34.19%DM, 26.9% CP, 72.33% EE, 45.66% CF and 56.05% NFE. True ME and apparent ME values of SMM were 1.58 and 1.20kcal/g air dry (or 1.71 and 1.30kcal/g DM) in Rhode Island Red cocks, and 1.50 and 1.17kcal/g air dry (or 1.62 and 1.27kcal/g DM) in broiler cockerels, respectively. The present results that the digestibility and the ME showed similar values in both chicken strains demonstrate that the values of digestibility and ME in new feed source estimated from layer chicken strain could also be applied to the broiler diets.

Keywords

• shiitake mushroom stalk meal
• chemical composition
• nutrient digestibility
• metabolizable energy