Background: Rapid population growth of human and livestock create increasing demands for food, nutrition security in developing countries and therefore alternative feed resources must be identified and evaluated. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) on supplemented feed on the growth and carcass quality of broilers in Calabar. Methodology: Fresh leaves of Moringa oleifera were bought and collected from Calabar, Nigeria. The leaves were dried for four days and milled. A total of 40 broiler chicks that 48 day-olds, unsexed (rose 308) were sourced from a reputable poultry farm in Calabar. The broiler chicks were randomly allotted to four treatment groups (A, B, C and D). 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% of MOLM were incorporated into the broiler feed which constituted the four treatment groups. Each group was replicated ten times at 10 birds per replicate. The following parameters were taken including feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, mortality rate and carcass quality. Data were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The diet supplemented with 5% of MOLM showed significantly high body weight and followed by 10% of MOLM. Feed intake values were significantly (p<0.05) different across the treatment groups. The weight gain (WG) was statistically similar for group B and C but significantly (p<0.05) different in group D; with birds fed with 10% MOLM based diet having the highest WG. The feed conversion ratio of the birds were not significantly (p>0.05) different in group B and C, but differed significantly (P<0.05) in group D when compared with the control in group A. Carcass characteristics showed higher values of dressing percentage in birds fed supplemented with 10% MOLM (group C). The levels of MOLM were not significantly different in terms of liver weight, heart weight, kidney weight and abdominal fat. Conclusion: Overall, the best significant improvement in the response indices were obtained in birds fed 10% MOLM, while there was a reduced performance of birds feed with 15% MOLM.

Understanding the level of genetic diversity in any population is an important requisite towards strategizing measures for conservation and improvement of stocks. This study focused on the assessment of phylogenetics and molecular divergence of tilapia fish species obtained from two populations (Domita in South-South and Odeda in South-West, Nigeria) using the displacement loop (D-loop) and cytochrome b region of the mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA). A total of 28 samples (15 from South-South and 13 from SouthWest) were used for the genetic analysis. DNA was extracted from the tissue of all the samples using Quik-gDNA TM miniPrep kit. The D-loop containing the hypervariable region was sequenced for all samples from the two populations, while cytochrome b (Cyt b) region of mtDNA was only sequenced for samples from South-South population. Chromatograms of the sequences were viewed and edited using Bioedit software. Multiple sequence alignment was carried out using molecular evolutionary genetic analysis (MEGA) software before subsequent genetic analyses. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the samples into two clusters based on population. Also, when the two mitochondrial regions were pooled together, they clustered into two major groups based on mitochondrial regions. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed 37.32% variation within population and 62.68% variation among population with a significant fixation index of 0.627 (p < 0.05).

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This study evaluated the ameliorating effect of honey on caffeine-induced sperm toxicity in male albino rats. Thirty healthy male albino rats of 12 weeks old were divided into five groups with six rats in each group using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The experimental animals were treated with combinations of caffeine and honey orally. Group 1 served as the control and was given only water and feed; Group 2 (honey group) received 10 ml/kgBW of honey; Group 3 (caffeine group) received 200 mg/kgBW of caffeine; Group 4 (C + H 1 group) received 200 mg/kgBW of caffeine and 10 ml/kgBW of honey while Group 5 (C + H 2 ) received 20 ml/kgBW of honey and 200 mg/kgBW of caffeine. The treatments lasted for a period of 65 days. Results showed statistically significant (p<0.05) reduction in weight of testes and epididymis, epididymal sperm viability, motility and count in caffeine treated rats when compared with the control. There was a concomitant increase in sperm head abnormalities in caffeine treated rats. However, honey effectively ameliorated the caffeine induced sperm toxicities in albino rat models in a dosedependent manner.

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