Efficacy of Shear Butter (Butryospermum parkii) – Neem (Azadirachta indica) Leaf Meal Mixture on Performance and Carcass Characteristics, Immune Response and Blood Parameters in Broiler Chickens

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of Shear butter –neem leaf meal mixture (SBMM) as a dietary supplement on the growth performance viz., weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics, immune response and some blood parameters of broiler chickens. One hundred and twenty one-day old commercial broiler chicks of mixed sex (Arbo acre) were reared in a deep litter poultry house and divided into four (4) groups of thirty (30) birds each. The groups were assigned to four diets containing 0, 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0% SBMM. Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the experimental period which lasted for 42 days. The results showed that there was no significant (P>0.05) difference in body weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio, feed cost per kilogram and immune response between treatment groups. The relative weights of the organs examined were not significantly (P>0.05) different across dietary treatment. All the haematological parameters evaluated: Pack cell volume (PCV), Haemoglobin (Hb), White blood cell (WBC) were not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the inclusion of SBMM. Non-significant influences were observed for total protein, albumin, and globulin, serum glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase (SGPT). SBMM can be included up to 6.0% level in broiler chicken rations without any adverse effect on growth performance, carcass characteristics, immune response and blood profile of birds