ABSTRACT
The study was carried out to determine the effect of feeding varying levels of Vernonia amygdalina leaf meal on growth performance and nutrient retention of arbor acre broiler chicks from 0 – 6 weeks of age, and also compare with the effect of colistin (an in-feed antibiotic growth promoter) on the same parameters. Vernonia amygdalina leaves were collected, air-dried and milled to produce the leaf meal designated VA. A total of 198 day-old broiler chicks were used in this trial which lasted for six weeks and there were a total of six dietary treatments. Treatment 1 (T1) was the positive control, it contained 0g colistin and 0% VA; Treatment 2 (T2) was the negative control, it contained 0.77g colistin + 0% VA; Treatment 3 (T3), 0g colistin + 0.1% VA; Treatment 4 (T4), 0g colistin + 0.5% VA; Treatment 5 (T5), 0g colistin + 2.5% VA and Treatment 6 (T6) contained 0g colistin + 12.5% VA. There were 3 replicates of each treatment and 11 birds within each replicate in a completely randomized design. Water and feed were given ad-libitum throughout the experimental period. Data were collected on Feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG) on replicate basis. Nutrient retention was determined through the total tract method of feacal collection while feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated for birds per replicate. All data generated were analyzed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). At week 3, FI was not significantly different (P > 0.05) among birds fed T1, T2, T3 and T4 diets but different for birds on T5 and T6 diets. There was significant difference (P< 0.05) in BWG of birds on T2, T5 and T6 but not different for birds on T1, T3 and T4. There was no significant difference ((P> 0.05) in FCR among birds in T1, T4 and T5 but different for birds on T2, T3 and T6. At week 6, there was significant difference (P < 0.05) in FI across dietary treatments with T5 showing the highest value of 1953.00g/bird and T2 the lowest value of 1581.00g/bird. There was significant variation (P< 0.05) in BWG across the treatments with T1 having the highest value of 587.30g/bird, T2 the lowest value of 346.90g/bird. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in FCR across the treatments. At 0 – 6 weeks, there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in FI, BWG and FCR across all treatments. Ash (92.49-96.02), Crude fibre (96.09 – 97.38), Crude Protein (97.08.98.63), Calcium (94.14-98.34), Metabolisable Energy (97.86-99.07) and Fat (99.41-99.97) were retained in a similar manner while Phosphorus retention, varied along the dietary treatments from 73.72 to 96.45. A 0.1% Vernonia amygdalina leaf mealincorporated into diets for arbor acre chicks had no adverse effect on performance at 0 – 6 weeks. Vernonia amygdalina leaf meal improved nutrient retention and colistin did not show an advantage over birds fed 0.1% VA at 0 – 6 weeks.
