EFFECT OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF MEAL ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND FECAL BACTERIAL COUNT IN BROILER CHICKS

Abstract

Antibiotic growth promoters (AGPS) have been an integral part of the poultry industry for more than sixty years. The AGPs were however suspected to cause cross and multiple antibiotic resistances, leading to a ban on their use in broiler nutrition. Phytogenic additives in animal nutrition have thus attracted attention for their potential role as alternatives to AGPS. Moringa oleifera is known to possess important medicinal properties including antibacterial and antifungal activities. This experiment, which was carried out in a rural part of Kogi State of Nigeria, was conducted to evaluate the effect of Moringa oleifera Leaf Meal (MOLM) on the growth performance and fecal bacterial count of broiler chicks. A total of 48 day-old Abor acre commercial broiler chickens were used. They were randomly allotted to 4 dietary treatment groups in a complete randomized design experiment, each treatment consisting of three replicates, with four birds per replicate. The dietary treatments were maize-based commercial starter ration supplemented with MOLM at levels of 0% (T1 = control), 2.5% (T2), 5% (T3) and 7.5% (T4) respectively. Inclusion of MOLM in broiler starter diets resulted in a non-significant but steady improvement in feed intake of birds with increase in the inclusion level of MOLM. There was also a non-significant improvement in the final weight, weight gain and feed conversion efficiency of starter birds placed on diets enriched with MOLM, with the control group having the highest FCR and feed cost per gram of meat produced. There was however no noticeable effect of MOLM on fecal bacterial count of the chicks. Moringa oleiferaLeaf Meal can therefore be added to broiler diets particularly at 5% level for the purpose of improving the feed conversion efficiency of the chicks which may also result in reduced feed cost.