ASSESSING THE EFFICIENCY OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF MEAL ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKEN

ABSTRACT. High cost of poultry feed and limited fishmeal are currently the major challenges in poultry production. To reduce cost while maximizing production, there is the need to use cheap but high nutritional feed sources like Moringa oleifera. The aim of the study was to assess the effects of Moringa oleifera on the growth performance of broiler chicken by measuring their live weight, rate of mortality, feed conversion ratio and benefit cost (b/c) ratio. Field experiment was carried out at the Animal Science Department farm, located in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana. A total of 30day old chicks were raised for eight weeks under the required conditions, with all vaccines administered appropriately. The experiment was laid in a Complete Randomized Design with five treatments namely T1= 100% conventional feed only (as control), T2= 50% MoLM (Moringa oleifera Leaf Meal) + 50% conventional, T3= 75% MoLM + 25% conventional, T4= 25% MoLM + 75% conventional, T5= 80% MoLM and each treatment replicated six times. The result showed no significant differences between the various treatment for the feed conversion ratio and live weight at different growth periods. The benefit/cost ratio of T1 was more than one while the other treatments were less than one. T4 (25% MoLM) had a b/c ratio close to one. In conclusion, Moringa oleifera leaf meal at different levels can be used to supplement the fishmeal component in the poultry diet of broiler chicken to produce similar results as that of the conventional feed. The study recommends that farmers can adopt Moringa oleifera based poultry feed for their bird production when they cannot afford the conventional feed (fish meal-based feed) to cut down cost economically while increasing productivity.