Haematological Studies of Broilers (1-28 Days) Fed with Diet Containing Varying Proportions of Tithonia Diversifolia Leaf Protein Concentrate

Abstract

A feeding trial lasting for 28 days was conducted, involving 150 days old chicks which were randomly allocated to five dietary treatment with 3 replicate, of ten birds per replicate. The experimental diets consisted of 0%, 5%, 10%,15% and 20% inclusion level of Tithonia Diversifolia (wild sunflower) leaf protein concentrate to determine the effect of different level of Tithonia Diversifolia leaf protein concentrate on Haematological parameters of the birds. Haematological studies carried out were packed cell volume (PCV), Haemoglobin concentration (Hb), Red blood cell (RBC), white blood cells, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) and Total protein, Albumin, Cholesterol. Packed Cell Volume obtained for the experimental bird varied significantly to each other with diet 3 having the highest value of 29.7±2.52 which was significantly different (p<0.05) to the value obtained for diet 1, 2 and 5. White blood cells values of 86.33± 185 at 10% level of Tithonia diversifolia leaf protein concentrate was the highest while diet 1 and 2 had the lowest. The highest cholesterol values was obtained from diet 1 and 4 with an average value of 5.37±0.47 and 5.20 respectively while the lowest cholesterol value was obtained from diet 3 which had 4.16 ± 0.33.The highest total protein value of 29.1 ± 0.15 was obtained at 10% inclusion level of Tithonia diversifolia leaf protein concentrate while the lowest values was seen on birds in diet. Feed in take value of birds on diet 3 with 10% inclusion level of Tithonia Diversifolia leaf protein concentrate was 99.8 ± 1.52 which is similar to diet 1 and 5 while the lowest feed intake was observed in birds at diet 2 having 94.1 ± 6.85 the birds on diet 3 (10% inclusion level) showed the highest weight gain followed by birds on the control diets. The result shows that 10% inclusion of Tithonia Diversifolia leaf protein concentrate could be used without having any deleterious effect on the broiler chicks.