Haematology and Serum Biochemistry of Broilers Fed Diets Supplemented With Palm Bunch Ash

Abstract

Palm bunch were collected from a local palm processing unit at Umuagwo, Imo State, Nigeria. It was cleaned, sundried and burnt to produce Palm bunch ash (PBA). It was analyzed for mineral concentration using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. One hundred day old Arbor acre broilers were used to assess the hematological indices of broilers fed graded levels PBA in a 7 week feeding trial. The birds were divided into four groups of thirty birds each which were further replicated three times with 10 birds per replicate in a completely randomized design. At each developmental stage, four experimental diets were formulated and offered to the birds such that the control diet had no PBA, whereas the other three diets contained graded levels of PBA at 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 kg/100 kg starter and 0.10, 0.15, 0.2 kg/100 kg of feed for finisher respectively. Proximate and mineral analysis of the feeds was determined. At the 7^th week of the experiment, haematological indices were determined. Most hematological indices like red blood cell (5.467x10⁶), haemoglobin (2.300g/dl) and packed cell volume (37.13) were significantly higher (p<0.05) than other treatments were within the normal ranges for chicken. However, T2 had significantly higher (p<0.05) values for mean cell volume than other treatment groups though all the values are within the range. Blood coagulation time reduced with average levels of palm bunch ash in the diet.