| Abstrakt: |
This study was aimed at evaluating the effects of full or partial replacement of dietary vitamin-mineral premix (VmP) with leaf meal composites (LMC) on performance of broiler chickens. In a completely randomised design, one-day old Arbor Acres plus chicks (n = 936) were randomly allotted to thirteen treatments, each replicated eight times. A replicate comprised nine chicks each. Air-dried leaves of Telfaria occidentalis, Celosia argentea, Vernonia amygdalina and Moringa oleifera were milled and constituted in equal proportions to a leaf meal composite (LMC). Diets were formulated with the LMC incorporated in the diets at 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5% and the VMP at 0.000, 0.125, 0.250 and 0.375% in a (3 x 4) +1 augmented factorial arrangement. Treatments 1 (T1), 2 (T2) and 3 (T3) contained only 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5% LMC, respectively, without VmP inclusion. Treatments 4 (T4), 5 (T5) and 6 (T6) each contained 0.125% VmP alongside 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5% LMC, respectively. Treatments 7 (T7), 8 (T8), and 9 (T9) also had 0.25% VmP each alongside 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5% LMC, respectively. Treatments 10 (T10), 11 (T11) and 12 (T12) each contained 0.375% VmP with 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5% LMC, respectively, while Treatment 13 (T13) contained 0.25% VmP only. Chicks were fed from day 1-21 (starter) and 23-42 (finisher). Increasing dietary VMP supplement resulted in reduced (p < 0.05) weight gain (WG) and increased feed conversion ratio (FCR), while higher supplemental LMC increased WG but reduced FCR of chicken. Similar result trends were obtained for the chickens at the finisher phase. Effects of LMC combinations with VmP in chickens on T2 (2.34 ± 0.22), T3 (2.33 ± 0.17), T5 (2.30 ± 0.28) and T9 (2.00 ± 0.19) on FCR were similar (p > 0.05) but lower (p < 0.05) than in other treatments. Optimal FCR of 2.25 (starter) and 2.44 (finisher) were attained with 3.43 (R2 = 0.73) and 3.06% (R2 = 0.99) LMC inclusions, respectively. Thus, LMC successfully replaced VmP in broiler chicken diets without any negative implication on growth performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
