Haematological Indices of Broiler Chickens Administered Water Containing Medicinal Plant Leaf Methanol Extract
2021
Onunkwo, D. N. | Udokwu, I. U. | Ezea, J. | Ekundayo, E. O.
The discovery that the use of antibiotics in animal production is fueling the increasing problem of transmitting resistance bacteria from food animals to man has led to the search for an alternative to the use of antibiotics. Therefore, the response of broiler chickens fed various medicinal plants methanol extract as a replacement for antibiotics was investigated. The plant extracts encompass four available leaves; Gercinia kola (Bitter Kola), Alchornea cordifolia (Christmas bush), Pterocarpus santalinoides (Red scandal wood) and Chromolera Odorata (Hagony or Siam weed). A total of 180 unsexed Ross strain broiler chickens were randomly assigned to these dietary treatments which had 30 birds each. The treatments were replicated thrice with 10 birds per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the experiment which lasted for 56 days. Haematological indices of broiler chickens were evaluated. Significant differences (p<0.05) were observed in the mean values of all the hematological parameters measured across the treatment groups, except Packed cell volume and White blood cell. The result values obtained in this present study were within the standard range of PCV of normal birds with the reference range of 25.0 - 45.0%. However, the values obtained did not reveal any health problem. The findings of this study conclude that the medicinal plant methanol extracts have considerable potentials as component of broiler chicken diet. Alchornea cordifolia plant methanol extract can successfully be used to replace antibiotics at 1g/litre of drinking water for broiler production. Further research should be carried out on Alchornea cordifolia and other medicinal plants to examine their potentials and inhibitory characteristics.
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