Poultry is a homothermal animal, and its body covers with feathers to increase its cold resistance. However, Taiwan is an island that lies in the tropic of cancer, and the general climate is marine tropical. During summer, this mechanism is adverse to heat dissipation and causes heat stress.
Heat stress is a familiar stress effect that will affect animals’ growth performance, productivity, and health. Heat stress affects livestock production results in increased demand for net energy for maintenance and reduced energy for growth and production.
Therefore it is crucial to help the animal dealing with heat stress. To overcome the sickness caused by heat stress, Life Rainbow Biotech has developed a liquid type nutrition supplement – Gano-met® for broiler and layer to exceed the unwell state and provide essential nutrition instantly. Gano-met® contains extracted Ganoderma lucidum and methionine analogue, rich in active compounds such as required amino acid, polysaccharides, and triterpenoids.
Ganoderma lucidum is an edible traditional medicine mushroom, also known as “Lingzhi”(Chinese) and “Reishi” (Japan), which have been used in traditional Chinese medicine as an immune booster herb for more than 4000 years. Ganoderma lucidum consists of more than 400 biologically active compounds such as polysaccharides and triterpenoids. Methionine is an essential amino acid, which produces several vital molecules for proper functioning.
Gano-met® was proven through field trials and showed its effectiveness of heat stress relief and promoted the growth performance. The farm trial period was conducted from April to May (2020) and located in the north of Taiwan. The average temperatures of these two months were 31°C and 32°C, respectively. Total 200,000 AA broilers were tested in this experiment. Farm scales with 100,000 birds as a batch also treat as a group. The control group (100,000 birds) was conducted during April whereas Gano-met® group (100,000 birds) conduct during May. Both groups were fed with commercial diet throughout 5-week experimental period. Starting from trial second week, the Gano-met® group was applied with Gano-met® (1L/ton) into drinking water, 3 days per week till the experimental period ends. After 5 weeks, all broilers sold to the market. Table 1 showed the result of the growth performance in broilers.
Heat stress is a significant economic threat to poultry industries, especially during summer and affecting the growth performance. Although the environmental variations are unable to control, we still can provide suitable precautions to protect the animals, such as providing nutrition aspects, including Gano-met®.