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The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Garcinia Kola (Bitter Kola) used as phytobiotic or herbal natural additives on biochemical and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens. Five diets with different levels of inclusion of the kola were fed to a total of 150 Marshal day- old broilers. There were three replicates of ten birds per replicate. The five diets were made of control diet; diets 2, 3, 4 and 5 had 500ppm, 1000ppm, 1500ppm and 2000ppm of G. Kola respectively. The feeding trial lasted for eight weeks. Data were analyzed using completely randomized design. The results of haematological parameters examined show that there were significant (P<0.05) differences in all the haematological indices measured, the values however, did not follow any particular pattern. Highest haemoglobin, packed cell volume (PCV) and red blood cells (RBC) values were recorded for birds on 1500ppm compared to other birds with values ranging between 8.40-10.00, 25.00-29.50 and 2.47- 2.77 for Hb, PCV and RBC respectively. The least haemoglobin and PCV values were recorded in diet containing 2000ppm. Dietary supplementation of G. kola revealed significant (P<0.05) effects in the values of albumin and serum aspartate aminotransferase (SAST) with fluctuating values. The albumin level increased from 0ppm to 1500ppm G. kola inclusion levels and later dropped at 2000ppm inclusion level. Birds fed bitter kola had higher values SAST than the control group. Results of carcass analysis study revealed significant (P<0.05) differences in the values obtained for live weight, dressed weight and dressing percentage. Birds fed with 0ppm of Garcinia kola had the highest live weight (2066.70g) while those on 1500ppm had the lowest. The same trend was observed in the mean values obtained for dressed weight. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) for all the organ weights observed except kidney which was found to show improvement with increased bitter kola level. It was concluded that dietary supplementation of broiler chicken with bitter kola produced haematological and carcass results that did not follow any definite pattern.

A total of 150 pure strain broiler chicks comprising 50 each of Arbor Acre, Marshall and Ross were used for this experiment which lasted 10 weeks at the Poultry Breeding Unit of the Directorate of University Farms (DUFARMS) of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State Nigeria. The experiment was carried out to make comparative analyses of growth response and genetic parameter estimates of some quantitative traits (Body weight and linear body measurement) in Arbor Acre, Marshall and Ross broiler chicken strains in South-West, Nigeria. Growth performance data was collected from week 3 to week 10 and analysed using the Generalized Linear Model. Marshall broiler chicken strain had the highest growth rate and better growth performance followed by Ross and Arbor Acre in terms of body weight and linear body dimensions. Marshall and Ross attained mean weight of 1964.50±43.10 g and 1913.02±41.05 g, respectively, which were superior (p < 0.05) to Arbor Acre 1831.63±36.28 g at 10 weeks of age. Marshall Broiler chicken strain also had the highest estimates of heritability for body weight 0.46±0.04, followed by Arbor Acre and Ross with estimates of heritability of 0.38±0.12 and 0.26±0.06, respectively. However considering the linear body measurements, none of the broiler chicken strains maintained high estimates of heritability from 3rd to 10th week.

Due to scarcity and high cost of conventional feedstuffs, there is a renewed interest in the use of non-conventional cheap and easily available feedstuffs on ducks feeding. This study was conducted to evaluate health status of ducks fed fermented cassava root-leaf meal blend as a replacement for maize. One hundred and fifty, one day- old unsexed Mallard ducklings were used for the experiment. Ducklings were randomly distributed into 5 groups of 30 ducklings per treatment. Each treatment was further subdivided into 3 replicates with 10 ducklings per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). The study is made up of 5 dietary treatments consisting of the control (Treatment 1), fermented cassava root-leaf blend used to replace maize at 25% (Treatment 2), 50% (Treatment 3), 75% (Treatment 4) and 100% (Treatment 5) levels respectively. The packed cell volume (26.50-38.33%) and haemoglobin (9.35-14.07g/dl) levels increased as Fermented cassava root-leaf meal (FCRLM) inclusion increased in the diet (0-75%). Uric acid values decreased (5.30-4,27mg/dl) as well as cholesterol values (91.70-56.70mg/dl) as level of (FCRLM) increased in diet. The results obtained showed that FCRLM at (300:1000 ratio) of leaf to root could replace maize at 50% inclusion level without any detrimental effects on health status of ducks.

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