SERUM BIOCHEMICAL INDICES OF BROILER CHICKENS AS INFLUENCED BY DIETARY GINGER SUPPLEMENTATION

Abstract

A study was designed to evaluate the influence of dietary ginger on serum biochemistry of broiler chickens. A total of three hundred (300) broiler chickens at four weeks of age were used for the study. The birds were randomly assigned to five treatment groups with four replications of fifteen (15) birds per replicate in a Complete Randomized Design. The experiment lasted for four weeks. Ginger replaced mineral/vitamin premix in the experimental diets (Table 1) as follows; T1 (Control 0% ginger), T2 (20% ginger), T3 (40% Ginger), T4 (60% Ginger) and T5 (80% Ginger). The serum biochemical indices measured were total protein, albumin, globulin, urea, glucose, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, calcium, bilirubin and creatinine. Total protein, albumin and globulin were higher in the control compared to the other treatments. Aspartate Aminotransferase was dose dependent with birds fed the highest level of ginger (T5) having the highest mean (82.75IU) while those in the control had the lowest means (43.25IU). Cholesterol was increased by the inclusion of ginger in the diet reaching a peak at T5. It was concluded
that inclusion of ginger up to 0.4% had no adverse effect on serum biochemistry of finisher broiler chickens.