Growth performance, nutrient digestibility and health status of broilers fed varied levels of Xylopia Aethiopica phytoadditive.

Abstract

Phytoadditives have gained potential role as one of the alternatives to antibiotics in animal nutrition since it has been confirmed to have no residual effect on the animal tissue and this study was therefore conducted to investigate the effect of inclusion levels of Xylopia aethiopica (Negro pepper) as a replacement of antibiotics on growth performance, blood profile, nutrient digestibility and organs response of boiler chickens. Two hundred and forty (240) day old chicks were randomly divided into five treatments of 48 birds each and housed in 4 replicates of 12 birds each. This experiment lasted for a period of 8 weeks and birds were placed on the same feed ad libitum except the inclusion of test ingredient in treatments 2-5. Diet without Xylopia aethiopica served as the control (T1). Diets in T2 to T5 were supplemented with 10g, 20g, 30, 40g of Xylopia aethiopica per kg feed. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design. All data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance using SPSS version 21 and significant means were separated using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test of the same software. The response of the broilers to dietary treatment were measured by feed intake, final weight, FCR, Cost/kg Weight gain, blood profile, organ responses and nutrient digestibility. There were significant differences (P<0.05) across the treatment in growth parameters except total feed intake and daily feed intake. The final live weight of broilers fed 10g of Xylopia aethiopica per kg feed (T2) was the highest (1858.50g/bird) while those fed 40g of Xylopia aethiopica per kg feed (T5) had the least (1411.33g/bird). This result suggested limit to the inclusion levels of the Xylopia aethiopica in the diet of broiler chickens. Addition of Negro pepper reduced the cost of per kg weight gain. Dietary treatment significantly (P<0.05) increased serum aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, globulin, cholesterol, but significantly reduced alkaline phosphatase. The nutrient digestibility of broiler chickens fed varied level of Xylopia aethiopica were significantly affected (P<0.05) in all parameters across the treatments and the broiler on treated groups had better nutrient digestibility. Relative organ weight of broiler chickens fed varied levels of Xylopia aethiopica were not significantly affected (P>0.05) across the treatments. It is recommended that supplementation of 10g of Negro pepper should be added to broiler diet for improved body weight gain