Effect of Moringa oleifera and Azardirachta indica Leaf Meals as Antibiotic on the Performance and Blood Parameters of Broiler Chickens
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51791/njap.vi.5670Keywords:
Antibiotics, Azardirachta indica, broiler, Moringa oleifera, OxytetracyclineAbstract
An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of five different inclusion levels of Moringa oleifera leaf meals (MLM) and Azadirachta indica (NLM) as a substitute to antibiotics on the performance and blood parameters of broiler chickens. Two hundred and ten-day-old broiler chicks were randomized to seven dietary treatments of three replicates (10 chicks per replicate). The treatments were T1:25g (Oxytetracycline) /100kg feed, T2: 600g MLM/100Kg feed, T3: 600g NLM/100Kg feed, T4: 300g MLM + 300g NLM /100Kg feed, T5: 450g MLM + 150g NLM/100Kg feed, T6: 150g MLM + 450g NLM/100Kg feed and T7: control (no additive).The results shows that feed intake and weight gain was highest in broiler chicken fed dietary treatment 2 (5843.10g and 2256.80g) and lowest in broiler chicken fed dietary treatment 6 and (5431.20g and 2009.63g).Broiler chickens fed dietary treatment 3 had the best feed conversion ratio (2.55) and also recorded the lowest percentage of mortality (5.00%). The haematological and serum biochemical indices were not affected (p>0.05) by the dietary treatments. In conclusion, birds fed diets containing Moringa oleifera leaf meal compared well with those placed on antibiotic growth promoters.