Effects of African Walnut (Tetracarpidium conophorum) Leaf and its Extract on Blood Profiles of Broiler Chickens

摘要

Background and Objective: The growing concerns of consumers on the use of antibiotic as a growth promoter in livestock feed have fueled the interest in alternative products, however, blood indices are viable indicator of the health status of birds given such alternative, Hence, this study was carried out to evaluate the effect of African Walnut (Tetracarpidium conophorum) leaf and its extract on haematology, serum chemistry and serum antioxidant enzymes of broiler chickens. Materials and Methods: A total of 135 unsexed 7 day old broiler chickens were used for 42 days trial. The birds were randomly distributed into 5 dietary treatments, each treatment included 3 replicates of 9 birds each. Five experimental diets were formulated with the inclusion of Tetracarpidium conophorum leaf powder (TCLP) and its extracts (TCLE) which includes: Control diet (T1), T1+250 mg TCLP kg/diet (T2), T1+500 mg TCLP kg/diet (T3), T1+25 mg TCLE kg/diet (T4) and T1+50 mg TCLE kg/diet (T5). Data were collected on haematology, serum biochemistry and serum antioxidant enzymes and subjected to one way of analysis of variance in a completely randomized design. Results: Birds fed diet T2 had the highest (p<0.05) high density lipoprotein (HDL) (50.77 mg dL~(-1)). Addition of 25 mg of TCLE significantly (p<0.05) increased the serum SOD (25.66 U mL~(-1)). Malondialdehyde was highest in the control birds (66.80 nmol mL~(-1)). Conclusion: It is therefore concluded that broiler chickens fed diet containing 250 mg TCLP had increased HDL cholesterol while all levels of addition of TCLP and TCLE had positive effects on the serum antioxidant enzyme activities.