Effects of Feeding Cassia obtusifolia Leaf Meal on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Blood Profile of Broiler Chickens

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding Cassia obtusifolia leaf meal on growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler Chickens. Two hundred (200) unsexed day old Marshall Broiler chicks were used for the study. Five diets were formulated such that Cassia obtusifolia leaf meal were used at 0%, 3%, 6%, 9% and 12% designated as treatments T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. The chicks were weighed and randomly allocated to five dietary treatments replicated four times with ten birds per replicate in completely randomized design. The proximate composition of Cassia obtusifolia showed it contains 93.51% dry matter, 25.44% crude protein, 19.14%, crude fibre, 12.17% ash, 4.06% ether extract and 38.19% nitrogen free extract. The leaf meal also contains saponin (6.26%), phytate (2.97%), tannins (4.52%) and oxalates (2.37%). The result of growth parameters measured were significantly different (P