No abstract

Among the currently available poultry feed additives, natural herbs and plants have been widely advocated due to their reported widespread beneficial effects. Vernonia amygdalina is one of such potential feed supplements which have recently been reported as having a wide range of beneficial effects on production performance. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of varying levels of V. amygdalina leaf meal on growth performance, hematological parameters and as anticoccidial agent for broiler chicken. A total of one hundred and fifty day old marshal broiler chicks were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments with 30 birds per treatment, replicated thrice, in a completely randomized design. The treatments were: Treatment 1 (T 1) served as control (positive control) with inclusion of coccidiostat but no inclusion of V. amygdalina, T 2 served as negative control with no inclusion of either coccidiostat or V. amygdalina, T 3 (200 g of V. amygdalina/ 150 kg of feed), T 4 (400 g of V.amygdalina/ 150 kg of feed), and T 5 (600 g of V. amygdalina/150 kg of feed). Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in the growth performance characteristics. The result of hematological indices shows that there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) across the treatment except for hemoglobin in T 2 that has the lowest (8.04 g/dl) and T 4 that has the highest (12.03 g/dl). Eosinophil's in T 4 has the highest value (4.00%) and lowest in T 5 (2.00%) and T2 (2.00%). However, all other parameters were within the normal range. It can be concluded that V. amygdalina can be used as anticoccidial in broiler chickens due to high fed conversion ratio and Eosinophil's observed in T 3 (200 g) and T 4 (400 g), respectively.

The aim of this study is to make a comparative analysis of the proximate, mineral and phytochemical compositions of the leaves of Ocimum gratissimum, Vernonia amygdalina and Moringa Oleifera plants found within our vicinity in Nigeria. The analyses were investigated in accordance with standard procedures and compared. Of the 3 plants, M. oleifera had highest (P<0.05) crude fat, crude protein and total ash but lowest in carbohydrate content, whereas, V. amygdalina with highest fiber had the lowest crude fat and total ash. Crude fiber and crude protein were lowest in O. gratissimum. Also, O. gratissimum showed the highest composition of calcuim, potassium, copper and zinc content compared to V. amygdalina and M. oleifera. Phytate and saponin were significantly predominant (P<0.05) in O. gratissimum relative to V. amygdalina and M. oleifera, whereas flavonoid and tannin were highest (P<0.05) in V. amygdalina. However, M. oleifera had the highest content of alkaloids among the three plants. The results showed that three leaves evaluated contained varying amount of the proximate, minerals and phytochemicals, hence, the regular use of these leaves are recommended.

The effects of varying inclusion levels of whole grain millet in millet–soya bean‐based diets on growth performance, gizzard development, digesta characteristics and nutrient digestion in broiler chicken were investigated. Starter (0–14 days) and grower (15–28 days) broiler chicken diets containing pearl millet at 500 and 540 g/kg diet, respectively, were formulated. The diets comprised of 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of millet incorporated as whole grain. One‐day‐old unsexed Arbor Acres Plus chicks (n = 540) were allotted to the experimental diets in a completely randomized design with the diets and water provided ad libitum for 28 days. Each treatment was replicated seven times, and each replicate had 12 chicks. Results showed that daily live weight gain and feed conversion ratio of chickens on the whole millet grain diets compared favourably with chicken on the control in both starter and grower phases, while feed intake reduced quadratically (p < .05) with increased whole grain millet levels in the starter phase. Morphological and structural characteristics of the gizzard and small intestine and intestinal digesta pH and viscosity were also unaffected (p > .05) by whole grain millet inclusion levels. However, the weight of intact millet grain in gizzard increased linearly (p < .001) with whole grain millet inclusion in the diets. Dietary whole grain millet inclusion also consistently lowered (p < .05) jejunal and ileal maltase and sucrase activities, but did not influence (p > .05) pancreatic amylase activity. Ileal crude protein and starch digestibility increased, while ileal energy digestibility decreased significantly (p < .05) with whole grain millet inclusion. Whole grain millet inclusion in broiler starter and grower diets up to 500–540 g/kg did not negatively impact on broiler chicken performance.

Effect of dietary inclusion of cassava grits (Manihot esculenta Crantz) from two cassava varieties TME 419 and TMS 01/1371 as replacement for maize on performance, serum biochemical indices and crude protein utilization of broiler chicks was investigated in a three-week trial with Abor Acre plus broiler chicks (n=210). In a completely randomized design, birds were allotted to seven treatments, each replicated thrice with 10 birds per replicate. Diet 1 comprised 50 % maize and 0 % cassava grits, diets 2, 3 and 4 had their respective maize content replaced at 25, 50 and 75 % with cassava grits from TMS 01/1371 while diets 5, 6 and 7 was replaced correspondingly with cassava grits from TME 419 at 25, 50 and 75 %, respectively for a duration of 21-day. Increased dietary cassava grits significantly lowered (P<0.05) weight gain and metabolizable crude protein of broiler chicks. Birds on diets 3, 4, 6 and 7 had similar weight gain, feed conversion ratio and metabolizable crude protein. Except for significantly increased (P<0.05) total protein and alkaline phosphatase due to interactions of cassava varieties and inclusion levels, effects of cassava varieties and inclusion levels on other serum indices were similar (P>0.05). Regression of metabolizable crude protein on graded cassava grit inclusion for both varieties were negative and significant (P<0.05) for TME 419 (R2 =0.355) and highly significant (P<0.01) for TMS 01/1371 (R2 =0.6639). Both graphs clearly depicted decreased metabolizable crude protein due to increased cassava grits in the diets. Increased dietary cassava grits of both varieties resulted in lowered metabolizable crude protein and serum indices with concomitant increased feed conversion ratio of broiler starter chicks.