EFFECT OF NEEM AND MORINGA LEAF MEALS (USED SINGLY AND COMBINED) AS SUBSTITUTE FOR ANTIBIOTICS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different levels of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MLM) and Neem leaf meal (singly or combined) as substitute to antibiotics on the performance of broiler chickens. Two hundred and ten (210) day-old broiler chicks were randomly allotted to 7 dietary treatments of 3 replicates each. Each replicate had 10 birds. The treatments were Treatment 1- Positive control (diet with an antibiotic (oxytetracycline)),Treatment 2- diet with 600g of Moringa leaf meal (MLM)/100kg of feed, Treatment 3- diet with 600g of Neem leaf meal (NLM)/100kg of feed, Treatment 4-diet with 50% MLM and 50% NLM in 100kg of feed, Treatment 5- diet with 75% MLM and 25% NLM in 100kg of feed, Treatment 6-diet with 25% MLM and 75% NLM in 100kg of feed and Treatment 7- Negative control (diet without any additive). The parameters measured (feed intake, final weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio) did not differ significantly among birds on the different dietary treatments. Birds on treatment 1 had the highest cost incurred per kilogramme weight gain while birds on treatment 3 had the lowest.