EFFECT OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF MEAL AS A SUBTITUTE FOR ANTIBIOTICS ON THE PERFORMANCE AND BLOOD PARAMETERS OF BROILERCHICKENIN SOKOTO, NIGERIA

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of two different levels of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) as substitute to antibiotics on the performance and blood parameters of broiler chickens. Ninety six (96) of four (4) weeks old commercial chickens were allotted to 4 dietary treatment of 1 replicate each. Each replicate had 12 birds. The treatment were T1- Control group in which the birds were given a standard basal diet and were given antibiotic (enrofloxacin) via drinking water; T2-diet with 400g MOLM in 75kg of feed,T3-diet with 600g MOLM in 75kg of feed, and T4-diet with neither antibiotic nor MOLM. The experiment lasted for 21 days. Significant differences were observed in the feed intake and weight gain of the birds on diet 2(400g MOLM) and diet 3(600g MOLM) having significantly (p<0.05) higher values for weight gain than birds on the other diets. The hematological parameters measured did not differ significantly.