Free-range chicken is native Indonesian chicken which has strategic potential to be improved. Since it has the advantage of being more tolerant of simple feed, adaptable to the environment, and has a stronger resistance to disease attacks.
However, this potential must be balanced with productivity optimization which is determined by the quality of semen. Because good quality cement will lead to higher fertility, and vice versa.
Semen repairment can be done through improving feed because the quality of male semen is largely determined by the feed consumed. The addition of antioxidants in feed can neutralize and prevent free radicals.
Sprouts are an alternative feed ingredient that is high in anti-oxidants, available in abundance at any time, easy to obtain, and cheap. The nutritional content of sprouts is higher than in the form of green beans, due to protein synthesis during the germination process.
However, to obtain optimal results, the sprouts are combined with an acidifier, which is an organic acid.
The hypothesis was written by the lecturer of the Animal Husbandry Study Program at Tribhuwana Tunggadewi University Malang, Nonok Supartini, S.Pt., MP, in a study entitled “Semen Quality and Fertility Profiles of free-range Chickens with Green Bean Sprouts Supplementation and Acidifier in Feed”.
Research compiled with Prof. Dr. Ir. Muhammad Nur Ihsan, MS., Dr. Ir. Nurul Isnaini. MP., And Dr. Ir. Muhammad Halim Natsir, MP., IPM. is a research dissertation to obtain a Doctorate (Dr). This is because he is registered as a student of the Doctoral Program in Animal Science at the Faculty of Animal Husbandry, Universitas Brawijaya (Fapet UB).
According to him, the combination of adding acidifier and green bean sprouts in the right proportion in the feed is thought to be able to optimize the performance of sprouts and feed in the digestive tract of native chickens. So that it affects the production performance and quality of native chicken male semen.
Based on the research conducted for 80 days, it was noted that the addition of acidifier and sprouts treatment in general had no effect on the microscopic and macroscopic quality of native chicken semen.
This shows that the treatment of adding acidifier and sprouts to the feed is still potential as an effort to optimize the quality of native chicken semen by considering the increasing level of provision. So that it is expected to control the diversity of data caused by the influence of non-treatment on the research environment.
So, it can be concluded that the addition of acidifier and green bean sprouts treatment showed an increasing trend in the microscopic quality of spermatozoa and macroscopic male chicken semen which was supported by an increase in the performance of feed consumption, body weight and body weight gain. It also shows an increase in the fertility profile measured from egg fertility and embryo survival.
“It can be said that the addition of acidifier and mung bean sprouts to the feed has the potential to optimize the production performance and fertility of male native chickens, taking into account the increase in the level and proportion of the combination of giving.” he concluded (dta / Humas UB/ Trans. Iir)
