Tosicological assessment of Vernonia amygdaliana leaf meal in nutrition of starter broiler chicks

Abstract

In a 6-week feeding trial, Vernonia amygdaliana leaf meat (VaLM) was tested as a dietary ingredient in broiler starter diets. The diets comprised VaLM included at Og (diet 1), 50g per kg basal diet (incorporated at the expense of groundnut cake and wheat ofsals - diets 2 and 3 respectively) and 100g per kg basal diet (incorporated at the expense of groundnut cake -- diet 4). During the study, parameters such as characteristics, blood parameters, histopathology of some organs (liver, kidney, lungs, heat, gizzard and pancreas) and carcass characteristics were investigated. Birds fed on VaLM - based diets performed poorly, the effects of the diet being more pronounced on those fed diet 4. Addition of VaLM to poultry feed significantly (P<0.05) reduced feed intake and weight gain of experimental birds. Blood cellular constituents decreased significantly (p<0.05) in birds fed VaLM-based diets and there were serious histopathological changes within the liver, kidney, lungs, heart, gizzard and pancreas.

Effects of Gmelina arborea, Roxb leaf meal on egg characteristics of Coturnix coturnix japonica, Temmick

“…Gmelina arborea R. is one of the such novel feed stuffs (Annongu and Folorunso, 2003). The potential of leaf meals from these tropical trees and shrubs to yield relatively higher levels of crude protein and minerals, and lower crude fiber levels than tropical grasses has also been recognized (Esonu et al, 2003;Fasina et al, 2004;Okagbare et al, 2004a;Amata, 2010). The amount of research carried out with nonconventional feeding materials could have a major impact on livestock production but they continue to be unused, underdeveloped or underutilized.…”