Effect of Lawsonia inermis Leaf Meal on Performance and Blood Profile of Broiler Chicken at Starter and Finisher Phase

This study was conducted to determine the effect of Lawsonia inermis leaf meal on growth performance and blood profile of broiler chicks for fifty-six days. A total of 150 day old broiler chicks were used. They were divided into five treatment groups of three replicates each (T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 fed 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 g/kg Lawsonia inermis leaf meal respectively). Each replicates contained 10 birds. The experimental design used for this study was complete randomized design. The responses of the broiler to the dietary treatments were measured by feed intake (g/bird), final weight (g/bird), feed conversion ratio (FCR), haematology parameters and serum biochemistry parameters. Result obtained from this experiment indicated that Lawsonia inermis leaf meal had significant (P<0.05) effect on blood profile and growth performance of the broiler chicken at both starter and finisher phase. At the starter phase, the Average weight, Daily weight gain and Final weight had their highest values from broiler birds on T4 fed (30 g/kg Lawsonia inermis leaf meal) while their highest values were observed from broiler birds on T5 fed (40 g/kg Lawsonia inermis leaf meal) at finisher phase. Meanwhile, the feed conversion ratio had its lowest value in T4 at starter phase and T5 at finisher phase. At both starter and finisher phase, Lawsonia inermis leaf meal had Significant (P<0.05) effect on white blood cells (WBC), red blood cells (RBC), haemoglobin (Hb) and Pack cell volume (PCV) which could indicate a boost in the body’s ability to fight of disease. Also, all the serum parameters were significantly affected by dietary treatment of Lawsonia inermis leaf meal at the starter phase while only total protein, albumin, globumin and AST were significantly affected at finisher phase. However, total cholesterol was observed to be reduced among broiler chicks on T4 and T5 (fed 30 g/kg and 40 g/kg of Lawsonia inermis leaf meal respectively) at starter phase. The study therefore concluded that, Lawsonia inermis leaf meal could be included to the diet of broiler chicks up to 40 g/kg without any deleterious effect.