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Morphometric Organ Weight and Histopathological Studies of Broiler Chickens Fed Diet containing Graded Level of Pro-Vitamin-A Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Leaf Meal as Replacement for Groundnut Cake


S. M. O. C. Urom
F. E. Nsing
D. N. Onunkwo
B. N. Zachary
R. S. Onabanjo
E. C. Oko

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the morphometric organ weight and histopathology of broiler chickens fed diet containing Pro-vitamin-A Cassava Leaf Meal (PVACLM) as a replacement for groundnut cake (GNC) protein. A total of 120-day old Ross-308 broiler chicks were randomly allotted into 4 treatment groups of 30 birds per group, each group was further divided into 3 replicates of 10 chicks per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The group were tagged as treatment 1(T1), treatment 2(T2), treatment 3(T3) and treatment 4(T4) at the ratio of 0%, 5%, 10% and 15%. PVACLM T1 had no PVACLM and served as the control. The results of the organ weight of broiler chickens showed that the heart, kidney, bile and spleen differed significantly (p>0.05) among the treatment groups. T4 had the highest value (0.7567 g) for the heart, kidney (1.0367 g), bile (0.2300g), and spleen (0.2300g). The result of 0% inclusion of Pro Vitamin A-Cassava leaf meal on broiler chickens showed normal hepatic histo-architecture, while 5% and 10% inclusion of Pro Vitamin A-Cassava leaf meal showed sections of the liver with multifocal areas of hepatocellular necrosis with marked infiltration of inflammatory leukocytes (Plate 1-4). The result of 15% inclusion of Pro Vitamin A-Cassava leaf meal on broiler chickens showed mild periportal infiltration of inflammatory leukocytes Therefore for efficient productivity and reduction in cost of production, 15% inclusion of graded PVACLM is recommended.


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print ISSN: 0300-368X