DIETARY EFFECT OF NEEM LEAF MEAL ON PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE AND BLOOD CHOLESTEROL LEVEL OF BROILER

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the effects of various levels of dietary neem leaf meal (NLM) on production performance and blood cholesterol level of broiler. The study was performed at the poultry shed and Dairy and Poultry Science Laboratory, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur. A total 120 day old broiler (Cob 500) were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatment groups with 3 replications each contains 10 chicks. Broiler-starter and broiler-finisher diets were fed to experimental birds. Each diet was balanced in terms of required nutrients and supplemented with NLM at the level of 0, 20, 40, 60 g/kg feed. Body weight, feed intake, body weight gain and health status of birds were recorded weekly. Average body weight gain was found to be highest in control group To (1851.67gm) compared to other groups. Average body weight gain in other treatment groups followed by T; (1726.67gm), T2 (1662.33gm) and T3; (1571.00gm). Feed conversation ratio (FCR) was lowest in To (1.75) followed by T2 (1.82), Ti (1.83) and T3 (1.89). Total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides of broiler in different dietary treatment during experimental periods differ significantly (P<0.01) from 28 to 35 days. At day 28 total cholesterol highest in control group To (146.33mg/dl) compared to other groups T; (137.67 mg/dl), T2 (125.67 mg/dl) and T3 (122.00 mg/dl). At day 35 total cholesterol also highest in control group To (154.6.67 mg/dl) compared to other groups T; (137.33 mg/dl), T2 (130.00 mg/dl) and T3 (124.67 mg/dl). HDL cholesterol was gradually decreased with neem leaf meal supplemented diets compared with control treatment To (98.33mg/dl). Triglycerides were also decreased significantly by supplementation of neem leaf meal diets in broiler ration compared with control treatment To (165.67 mg/dl). The result shown that there were significant difference (P<0.05) found on body weight gain among different treatment groups on weekly along the whole experimental period. The result also shown that there were significant difference (P<0.01) found in total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides at day 28 and 35. Key words: Neem leaf meal, broiler performance, Blood cholesterol.