CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS, HAEMATOLOGY AND SERUM BIOCHEMISTRY OF BROILER CHICKENS FED YELLOW MAIZE SUPPLEMENTED WITH GRADED LEVELS OF SYNTHETIC METHIONINE

Abstract

Eight weeks feeding trials involving 300 (three hundred) broiler chicks was carried out in a completely randomized design. The birds were divided into five (5) groups of 60 birds per treatment, represented as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively, and replicated into 3 of 20 birds per replicate. Yellow maize was used supplemented with synthetic methionine at 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5% for T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. Water and feed were given ad-libitum. Carcass yield and internal organs result showed no significant differences (P>0.05) except in plucked weight, eviscerated weight, chest and abdominal fat (P<0.05). As for haematological indices, there was also no significant (P>0.05) difference except in MCV, while the serum biochemical was not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the diet for all the parameters measured. Monocytes, lymphocytes and Eosinophil slightly increased with increased levels of methionine. The result revealed that there is slight increased in body weight with increased inclusion of methionine. The result suggests that 5% inclusion of synthetic methionine could be used in broiler feed successfully without deleterious effect