Performance of broiler chickens fed diets containing Centro (Centrosema pubescens) leaf meal in rainforest south eastern zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The performance of broiler chickens fed Centrosema leaf meal (CLM) based diet was evaluated. One hundred and fifty (150) day-old Anak broiler chickens were randomly assigned to five diets which lasted for 49 days. Diet 1 containing 0% CLM served as control, while diets 2, 3, 4, and 5 had 2, 2.25, 2.5 and 2.75%, respectively, forming five (5) treatments in a Completely randomized design. Each treatment was replicated 3 times with 10 broiler chicks per replicate. The experimental birds were fed five (5) different diets and performance characteristics parameters were measured and recorded during this trial. Results showed that T5 had the highest significant (p<0.05) final body weight, weight gained, average daily weight gain and average daily feed intake (2900g, 2390g, 68.29g and 122.42g, respectively) and Feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 1.83 as compared to T2 with the highest FCR 2.19. For carcass yield, T5 also had the highest (p<0.05) live weight (2900g) while T2 had the least value. Feed cost benefits showed significant differences in all parameters considered except for the cost of feed /1kg. For cost/weight gain, T5 (N607.81) had least significant difference (p<0.05), against other treatment groups while T2 had the highest (N721.50). T5 had highest values of 1728.00 for revenue while T2 had the least (1107. 93). Gross margin followed the same trend as that of total revenue. Therefore, the birds (T5) had the best performance based on the parameters considered in this experiment and is therefore selected and recommended to be used in poultry nutrition.