Effects of Varying Levels of Neem (Azadirachta indica) Leaf Meal in Layer Diets on the Haematological and Serological Indices, and Faecal Bacterial Counts of Layers

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of varying levels of Neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf meal in the diets of layers on the haematology, serology and faecal bacterial counts of laying pullets. Five layer diets formulated to contain 0%, 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5 % and 10.0 % Neem Leaf Meal (NLM) were fed to a total of one hundred and fifty (150) 20-week old Shikka Brown layers. The birds were randomly assigned to 5 treatment groups of 30 birds each made up of 3 replicates of 10 birds per treatment. The diets were formulated to contain approximately 2500kcal/kg ME and 17 % crude protein. NLM had no significant (P>0.05) effect on packed cel