BIOCHEMICAL INDICES OF BROILERS FED DIETS CONTAINING HORNED MELON (Cucumis metuliferus) AS PARTIAL REPLACEMENT FOR COMMERCIAL PREMIX
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.51791/njap.vi.8525Mots-clés :
Chickens, Horned melon meal, Vitamins, Minerals, Serum BiochemistryRésumé
The poultry industry serves as a backbone of global agriculture supplying a significant portion of dietary protein of a growing population and the success of this sector depends on the adoption of advanced nutritional strategies, especially with quality vitamin mineral premixes. This study evaluated the effects of horned melon
meal as partial replacement for commercial vitamin mineral premix on biochemical parameters of broiler. Matured horned melon fruits were harvested and processed into horned melon meal (HMM). The vitamins minerals analysis of HMM was carried out according to AOAC (2000) procedure. The results showed that
HMM had vitamins and minerals comparable to that of commercial premix. Four weeks old one hundred twenty birds were randomly allotted into four dietary treatments (0%, 25%, 37.5% and 50% respectively) in a complete randomized design with three replicates of ten birds each. The experiment lasted 4 weeks. 3 birds were randomly selected from each replicate for blood samples. 5mls blood was taken from each bird into plane bottles for serum biochemical analysis. The glucose, cholesterol, total protein, triglyceride, albumin, globulin, albumin globulin ratio and uric acid. Data collected from biochemical parameters was subjected to general linear model using MINITAB 18.The result showed no significant (p>0.05) difference across the treatment. The experiment concluded that inclusion of horned melon meal up to 50% partial replacement of commercial vitamin mineral 9premixes in broiler diets did not adversely affect serum metabolites.