Evaluation of varying levels of Carica papaya leaf meal on growth, carcass, hematological parameters and its use as anticoccidial for broiler chicken

Medicinal plants have been traditionally used for treatments of various diseases in many countries. Carica papaya is one of potential feed supplements which have recently been reported as having a wide range of beneficial effects on production performance. A seven weeks trial was conducted to investigate the effect of graded levels of C. papaya leaf meal on broiler growth performance, carcass characteristics, hematological parameters and its anticoccidial properties. A total of one hundred and fifty day-old Marshal broiler chicks were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments with 30 birds per treatment, replicated thrice in a completely randomized design. The treatments were; diet with coccidiostat as a positive control (T1), diet without C. papaya leaf meal nor coccidiostat (T2), diet with 200 g of C. papaya leaf meal/100kg of feed (T3), diet with 400 g C. papaya leaf meal/100kg of feed (T4), and diet with 600 g of C. papaya leaf meal/100kg of feed (T5). The phytochemical component of the C. papaya leaf meal varied from positive to strongly positive. Significant differences (P<0.05) were observed in the final weight, feed intake and the mortality percentage. The best liveability and final weight gain were obtained from the birds fed diets with 400 g of C. papaya leaf meal while non significance differences were observed on the carcass characteristics except on the live weight. The blood profiles were within the normal levels. It can be concluded that C. papaya leaf meal can be used at the rate of 400 g/100kg of feed for broiler chicken without any deleterious effect on the performance and carcass characteristics. Keywords: Carica papaya, performance, coccidiostat, phytochemical, carcass, hematological