EFFECT OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAVES ON PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE AND MICROBIAL LOAD OF BROILER

Abstract

Field trial of the study was conducted at the poultry farm and few laboratory tests were done at Dairy and poultry science laboratory, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), Dinajpur. The study was carried out a total of 28 days in order to apply the possibility of treated Moringa oleifera leaf powder in broiler diets to determine effects of Moringa oleifera leaf on production performance, dressing percentage (%), quality characteristics and antibacterial effects of broiler. A total of 120, day old broiler (Cobb 500) chicks were taken and divided into four treatment groups as T0, T1, T2, T3, each with three replications (10 birds/replication) for each group. Four dietary treatments were considered: T0 (Control fed with commercial diet), T1 (Commercial diet with 2.5% Moringa oleifera leaf powder), T2 (Commercial diet with 5% Moringa oleifera leaf powder) and T3 (Commercial diet with growth promoter (Aminosol@ 1ml/L drinking water). The results showed that feed intake was nonsignificant (P>0.05) among the dietary treatment groups. The present study revealed that Moringa oleifera leaf powder had significant (P<0.05) effect on final live weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in broiler. The initial live weight of broiler of different treatment groups was almost similar. The final live weight (g) was significantly (P<0.05) higher in T2 (2146.00±88.88), compared to other groups like T1 (2040.00±50.33), T3 (1936.66±43.33) and T0 (1893.33±52.06). The final live weight gain was found higher in T2 group (2107.33±90.00) where it was 2000.33±50.26, 1897.00±42.17 and 1854.33±52.34 for T1, T3 and T0 respectively. The best feed conversion ratio was found in T2 group (1.20±0.05) and T1 (1.26±0.03) and the poor FCR was found in T0 group (1.36±0.05), similar FCR was found in T3 (1.33±0.02). The dressing percentage (%) in T0, T1, T2 and T3 was 67.82±0.44, 66.62±0.14, 67.25±0.39 and 67.72±0.23 respectively which was non-significant among the groups. However, Moringa oleifera leaf had effect on antibacterial activity basically against E. coli and Salmonella and no-significant (P>0.05) effect was observed on Breast weight, Liver weight, Gizzard weight, Shank weight, Heart weight except Head weight of broiler. The results of the study suggest that supplementation of Moringa oleifera leaf powder up to level at 5% in diets has high potential for production performance of broiler. However, further study need to be taken to understand the active principle(s) of antimicrobial activity and other beneficial effects of Moringa oleifera leaf powder.