Effect of Supplemental Levels of Moringa and Black Plum Leaf Meals on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Cost Benefit Analysis of Finisher Broilers

Abstract

A total number of one hundred and twenty (120) five weeks old "Agric-tech" broiler birds were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments, each replicated three times with eight birds per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). The research work was targeted towards determining the effect of supplemental levels of moringa and black plum leaf meals on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and cost benefit analysis of finisher broilers. Five different diets were formulated such that diets 2, 3, 4 and 5 contained moringa leaf meal and black plum leaf meal at the levels and ratio of 1:4, 2:3, 3:2 and 4:1, while diet 1 served as the control. Feed and water were given ad-libitum throughout the experimental period of twenty-one days. Growth performance was highest (P<0.05) in treatment 4 with 3168.98g, 1522.19g, 4186.35g and 2.75 corresponding to final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. More revenue and net profit were seen in treatment 4 with values of #4753.47 and #1525.01 respectively. Nutrient digestibility parameter results showed higher values for crude protein, crude fibre, ether extract and nitrogen free extract in treatment 4 (76.36%, 79.25%, 66.16% and 79.16%) respectively. It can be concluded from the data obtained that the inclusion of moringa leaf meal and black plum leaf meal at different levels and ratio of 1:4, 2:3, 3:2 and 4:1 can be tolerated by the birds at finisher phase without adverse effect on the performance of the birds, with the best performance and net profit in treatment 4 respectively.