PERFORMANCE, HAEMATO-BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF BROILER CHICKS ADMINISTERED ROLFE (Daniellia oliveri) LEAF EXTRACT AS AN ANTIBIOTIC ALTERNATIVE
Olurotimi A. Olafadehan
Abstract
The objective of the present study was to investigate the performance, haemato-biochemical parameters of broiler chicks administered Daniellia oliveri leaf extract (DOE) as an antibi-otic alternative. A total of 250 (Ross 308) one-day old broiler chicks were allotted to five treatments in a completely randomized design and each treatment group was further sub-divided into five replicates containing ten (10) birds each. Treatment 1 (Control) was given 1.20 g/ liter of Neomycin in water, while treatments 2, 3, 4 and 5 were given DOE at 10 ml, 20 ml, 30 ml and 40 ml/liter of water respectively. The experiment lasted for 8 weeks dur-ing which performance, hematology and serum parameters were recorded. Average daily gain (DWG) and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) were significantly influenced by the die-tary treatment (P 0.05). However, increasing the level of DOE from 10 ml to 40 ml/liter tend to decrease the AFI. Highest mortality was recorded in birds fed T1 (10%) followed by T2 (3%), T3 (1%) respectively, none was recorded in T4 and T5. Results on hematology revealed that there were significant differences (P 0.05) by dietary feeding of DOE. It was concluded that feeding birds DOE up to 40 ml/litre enhanced the overall performance and does not have any dele-terious effect on the animal.