Effects of Moringa Stenopetala Bac. Leaf Supplement on Growth Performance of Broiler Chicken

Abstract

Poultry keeping is the most widespread of all livestock enterprises, it plays a great role in food security improvement, socio-cultural and economic development in most countries. While broiler production is a source of income, it is a good source of protein and a profitable investment. In developing world, high feed to gain ratio and high feed costs are among the challenges in poultry keeping. Current attempts to mitigate these challenges involve the use of antibiotics in feed as growth promoters, prophylaxis and disease treatment. It is notable that the use of conventional antibiotics for promoting growth and performance has been effective. However, undesirable residual effects and antibiotic resistant pathogens due to antibiotics in conventional poultry feeds is of global health concern. Therefore, there is continuous need to evaluate natural alternatives to antibiotics to mitigate the problems encountered with conventional antibiotics. Many medicinal plants have been associated with growth performance enhancement, Moringa stenopetala Bac leaves are used as food for humans. Seeds, bark, roots, and flowers are widely used in traditional medicine. Leaf extracts are reported to have the greatest antioxidant activity. The extracts of Moringa stenopetala leaves have antioxidant potential, β-carotene, protein, vitamin C, calcium, potassium and natural antioxidants including flavonoids, phenolic, ascorbic acid and carotenoids and are thought to be responsible for their effectiveness The current study evaluated the effect of broiler chicken feed supplemented with M. stenopetala on feed conversion ratio. The study was prompted because the available data is limited and contradictory. Experimental study design was used. Cobb 500 broiler of one-day-old (165) chicks were obtained from Kenchic Ltd, Kenya and randomly selected. Feed meals were prepared by Unga feed Ltd, Kenya by replacing antibiotics with powders of M. stenopetala. Concentrations of 0.0 to 0.65 w/w % for powders were supplemented. Five treatments were used in the experiments and results were analyzed using Minitab Version 19.1. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Fisher’s Least Significant Difference was used at 0.05 Level of significance. Results indicated increases in the chicken weight gains in all the treatment groups at the end of treatment week five but with no significant difference except for the negative control group (p<0.05). Also, at the end of 5th week, the results obtained showed that all the chicken in all the experimental groups had a significantly lower feed conversion ratios except for the chicken on the negative control experimental group (p<0.05).