Published Article

ABSTRACT

The study sought to find out if the Graded level of Moringa oleifera leaf meal is a correlate of nutrient digestibility of finishing broiler chickens, carcass characteristics and internal organ of broiler chickens. The area of the study was the Poultry Unit of the Teaching and Research Farm, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife Resource Management, University of Calabar, Calaber, Cross River State – Nigeria. Fresh Moringa oleifera leaves were harvested from Moringa trees and collected at Ugbo Village in Awgu Local Government Area, Enugu State and transported to Calabar. The test material (Moringa oleifera) leaves were dried under shade at room temperature of 32°C by spreading them on concrete slabs and allowed drying for two (2) weeks after which they were milled with a grinder to produce the meal of 0.35mm sieve size. The processed test material (the mealed sample of Moringa oleifera leaf) was bottled in an air tight container for chemical analysis to ascertain the effect of graded level of MOLM on nutrient digestibility of finishing broiler chickens and the effect of graded levels of MOLM on carcass characteristics and internal organ of broiler chickens. The use of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) as an additive on broiler diets had no adverse effects on the growth performance of broilers and its potential as an antioxidant seemed to be effective in improving physico-chemical shelf-life indicators of the meat from broilers. The study also recommended that hat more studies or experiments on Moringa oleifera should be conducted such as growing its trees in large numbers so that the farmers will be aware of how highly nutritive this tree is.

KEYWORDS: Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM), Nutritional Potential, Nutrient Digestibility, Carcass Characteristics