HAEMATOLOGY AND BIOCHEMICAL INDICES OF BROILER FINISHER CHICKEN FED GRADED LEVELS OF Ziziphus mauritiana FRUIT PULP

B.J. Mufwa; A.A Maigari & I. Baya

Department of Animal Production

College of Agriculture, Jalingo, Taraba State – Nigeria

ABSTRACT

An experiment was conducted to investigate the replacement of maize with Ziziphus mauritiana fruit meal in broiler finisher diets. One hundred and twenty Anak 2000 broilers were used for the study four diets were formulated using ZMFM at 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% in the diets respectively the birds were randomly allotted to dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment consult of thirty birds with ten birds per replicate. The experiment lasted for four weeks. Feed and water were given ad-libitum. The Haematological indices indicates high significant (P<0.05) difference at different levels of maize replacement with ZMFM in packed cell volume (PCV), Red blood cell (RBC) Haemaglobin (Hb) while blood cell (WBC), mean corpuscular Haemaglobin (MCH) Haemoglobin concentration (HB)Heterophils and Lymphocytes. The serum biochemical indices revealed high significant (P<0.05) difference in total protein, albumen, glucose, chloride, potassium and sodium. In view of above, up to 15% replacement of maize with Ziziphus mauritiana fruit meal has no adverse effect on the blood component of broiler finisher chicken.

Keywords: Broiler finisher, Ziziphus mauritiana fruit meal maize and blood components.