Potential of Herbal Industrial Waste for Sustainable Broiler Chicken Feed Production

Abstract

The herbal industry produces solid waste such as roots, rhizomes, leaves, flowers, seeds, and extraction dregs that still contain valuable nutritional and bioactive compounds. Currently, this waste has not been optimally utilised and actually contributes to an increase in the volume of organic waste. One innovative approach for sustaianable management of the waste is the utilisation of these wastes as raw materials for animal feed. This study evaluates the potential of jamu pulp waste from a Indonesia Jamu Industry, which produces approx 600 to 1000 kilograms of solid waste every day. Laboratory tests, found that jamu waste contains essential nutrients such as crude protein of 9.64%, crude fibre of 13.24%, and crude energy of 3494 kcal/kg. The fermentation process for 3 to 4 days using Effective Microorganisms (EM4) proved to be able to significantly reduce the water content and crude fibre, while improving the nutritional value. However, the protein content is still below the standard requirement of broiler chickens (18-22%), so additional protein-rich ingredients are needed. In addition, the results of heavy metal content test showed that the herbal medicine waste was still within the safe threshold according to national standards SNI 8173-2:2022. This finding reinforce the potential of herbal medicine waste as an alternative feed ingredient that is not only economical and environmentally friendly, but also supports sustainability in the livestock industry. Proper formulation is still needed so that the nutritional value meets the poultry feed standards.