EFFECTS OF RAISING BROILER CHICKENS WITH NATURAL ANTIBIOTICS AND LOCALLY COMPOUNDED FEEDS ON THE PERFORMANCE, HAEMATOLOGY AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS IN MUBI, NORTH-EASTERN, NIGERIA

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of raising broiler chickens using natural antibiotics with locally formulated feed on growth performance, haematology and carcass characteristics of the broiler chickens. Five diets were formulated using locally available feed ingredients and the natural antibiotics (Control-T1, T2-Bitter leaf, T3- Moringa leaf, T4- Jinger and T5- Garlic). 1kg of the natural antibiotics was added in each diet. 200 unsexed Sayed broiler chicks were used from day-old to finisher stage (one to eight weeks) in a completely randomized design of 5 treatments with 40 birds per treatment replicated 4 times. Data were taken on growth performance, haematology and carcass characteristics. Data obtained was analyzed using ANOVA as contained in SPSS. The results of growth performance showed that, final live weight, total weight gain, daily weight gain and mortality were highly significantly (P<0.001) different among the different natural antibiotics. However, initial live weight, daily feed intake, total feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not affected. Haematology of the broilers revealed tha, packed cell volume, protein, lymphocytes, neutrophils, mean corpuscular volume and white blood cell (P<0.001), monocytes and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (P<0.01) and glucose (P<0.05) were significantly different among the various treatments. Results of carcass characteristics depicted tha, breast, thigh, wind and liver weight (P<0.001), live weight (P<0.01), carcass weight and spleen (P<0.005) were different among various treatment. However, dressing percentage, back, gizzard, heart, kidney, lungs and proventriculus were not significantely affected. It could be concluded and recommended that garlic because of its antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory properties, reduce antibiotic resistance and improvement of bird health than the other natural antibiotics is recommended for use.