Effect of water treated and urea treated neem (<i>Azadirachta indica</i>) kernel cake as protein supplement on haematological, biochemical and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens

Abstract

In a study to evaluate the carcass haematological and biochemical characteristics of broiler birds fed graded levels of water and urea-treated neem kernel cake (NKC), 300 day-old broilers (Cobb, 500) were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments for 56 days. Water and feed were fed adlibitum. The diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous to replace soya bean meal at 0 per cent neem kernel cake (NKC), 5 per cent water treated neem kernel cake (WNKC), 10 per cent WNKC, 5 per cent water and urea treated neem kernel cake (WUNKC) and 10 per cent WUNKC for diets 1,2,3,4, and 5, respectively. The results showed that average daily feed intake (ADFI), average body weight gain (ABWG), average daily water intake (ADWI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and feed cost kg-1 live weight gain were significantly (P = 0.05) different across dietary treatments. With the exception of the red blood cell (RBC), globulin and total protein, all the haematological parameters (white blood cell, haemoglobin, PCV, MCH, MCHC and MCV) and biochemical parameters (albumen, cholesterol, HDL, LDL and TGS) measured were not significantly (P = 0.05) different across the dietary treatments. Results on carcass parameters were significantly (P = 0.05) different among the dietary treatments. Liver, gizzard, heart, dressed weight, and intestinal weights of birds on the test diets were significantly (P = 0.05) different from those on the control diet.