PHENOTYPIC RESPONSES OF TWO BROILER BREEDS OF CHICKENS TO CLOVE SUPPLEMENTATION UNDER HEAT STRESS

Abstract

The present study investigated evaluation of impact of clove supplementation on growth performance traits of two broiler breeds of chicken raised under heat stress condition. The study was conducted at the Federal University Gashua, Yobe State. The parameters studied were intestinal weight, intestinal length, liver weight, heart weight and gizzard weight, carcass and haematological parameters. Breed and clove supplementation significantly (P<0.05) affected growth performance of the broiler chickens at week 5 and 6 but not at week 6. No significant difference was noticed in all the blood parameters analysed except in MCU, PLT and PCV where significant (P<0.05) effects of clove were observed. However, the interaction effect of breed and clove were noticed in WBC and Hb. Our results, therefore, revealed that genetic make-up of broiler breed of chicken affected their phenotypic responses to clove treatment under heat stress and this could be attributed to nutrigenomic effect of clove on the expressions of genes of adaptive traits.