No abstract

The objective of the study was to examine the effect of feeding different levels of Daniellia oliveri leaf extract (DOFE) on the meat quality and fatty acid composition of broiler chicks. A total of 375 one –day old broiler chicks were randomly assigned into five dietary treatments of seventy-five birds per group; each group was further divided into 5 replicates consisting of 15 chicks each. The dietary treatments include a control diet-fed 1.25 g/litre Oxytetracycline (T1), T2, T3, T4 and T5 were fed DOFE at 20 ml, 40ml, 60ml and 80 ml/liter respectively. Basal diet was formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of birds according to NRC (1994), feed and water were given ad libitum and the experiment lasted for 56 days. Result obtained showed that Daniellia oliveri leaf contained Dry matter (89.11%), crude protein (18.95%), crude fibre (13.11%), ether extract (4.78%), ash (6.10%), neutral detergent fibre (28.10%), and acid detergent fibre (47.50%).  Significant differences (P<0.05) were observed in the proximate composition of the breast meat. Total saturated fatty acid (TSFA), total unsaturated fatty acid (TUFA), and omega-6/omega -3 ratio (n-6: n-3) values were significantly influenced (P<0.05) by DOFE. Birds in T5 had the highest TUFA value of 77.87 % followed by T4 (72.45%), T3 (66.43%), T2 (61.94 %), and T1 (41.47%) respectively. While T1 (44.71%) had the highest value of TSFA (P<0.05) relative to other treatments. The atherogenic index was significantly (P<0.05) different among the treatments, the value increases as the level of DOFE increased. It was concluded that feeding DOFE to birds at 80 ml/liter highly influenced the composition of fatty acid and meat quality of animals without any negative effect on their general performance.

A 42 day feeding trial involving twenty five, seven weeks old male grass cutters with an initial weight of 604.9 -609.7g was conducted to determine the growth response and carcass characteristics of weaner grass cutters fed diets supplemented with P. longifolia seed oil as a natural growth promoter. Five diets were formulated to contain basal diet + 0% P.longifolia oil and Oxytetracycline for T1 this served as negative control while T2 was fed basal diet containing Oxyteteracycline (synthetic growth promoter) as positive control at 25mg/kg, T3, T4 and T5 were fed basal diet supplemented with P. longifolia oil as natural growth promoter at 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.4% respectively. The grass cutters were randomly divided into five groups of five grass cutters each with each grass cutters serving as replicate in a completely randomized design experiment. Feed and clean water were provided ad libitum. There was a significant (P<0.05) differences among the treatments for final live weight, feed conversion ratio, carcass weight and dressing percentage. There was no significant differences (P>0.05) in mortality, feed intake, daily water intake, feed cost per kg and relative weights of the organs examined ( liver, kidney, heart, spleen, testis, intestine and abdominal fat). The result of this study indicates that the inclusion of P. longifolia oil up to 0.40% has no deleterious effect on the performance and health status of grass cutters.

A 45-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary inclusion of Polyalthia longifolia leaf meal as phytobiotic compared with antibiotics on the nutrient retention, immune response and serum biochemistry of broiler chicks fed corn-soya meal diet. One hundred and fifty day old chick (Ross 308) of mixed sex was divided into five groups with three replicates, each of ten birds in a completely randomized design (CRD). Group 1was fed on basal diet without feed additives, group 2 was fed on basal diet supplemented with the antibiotic (Erythromycin) at 25mg/kg), group 3,4 and 5 were fed basal diets supplemented with Polyalthia longifolia leaf meal (PLM) at levels 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5% respectively. The basal diet was formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of growing birds according to NRC (1994), experimental parameters covered nutrient retention, immune response and some serum biochemical indices. The result revealed that there was a no significant (P>0.05) differences among all treatments in the values of protein retention, fat retention and the serum parameters measured. However, significant influences (P<0.05) were observed for fibre retention and the immune response of the birds to ND and IBD after vaccination. It can be concluded based on the data from the nutrient retention, immune response and those from serum biochemical parameters that PLM could be incorporated up to 3.5% level in the diet of broiler chickens.

Medicinal plants are abundant in phytochemicals that has significant therapeutic effects. They are relatively cheap, effective and safe in prolong use. This experiment was carried out to investigate the phyto-nutritional profile of broom weed (Sida acuta) leaf extract. Proximate analysis Sida acuta leaf indicated the presence of dry matter (91.88 %), crude protein (18.01 %), ash (9.73 %), crude fibre (6.24 %), ether extract (1.77 %) and energy (2760 Kcal/kg). Phytochemical screening of the extract revealed the presence of condensed tannins, hydrolysable tannins, flavonoids, saponins, phenols, oxalate, phytate, alkaloids, terpenoids and glycosides at 0.82 %, 2.02 %, 4.25 %, 0.20 %, 0.17 %, 0.05 %, 0.23 %, 0.22 %, 0.95 % and 0.02 % respectively and the vitamin constituents are thiamine (0.33 mg/100g), ascorbic acid (30.17 mg/100g), riboflavin (0.05 mg/100g), β-carotene (0.79 mg/100g) and niacin (0.41 mg/100g). Mineral analysis showed that it contained calcium (127.6 mg/100g), phosphorus (78.6 mg/100g), potassium (31.6 mg/100g), magnesium (102.1 mg/100g), iron (2.14 mg/100g), manganese (0.60 mg/100g), copper (0.04 mg/100g) and zinc (1.75 mg/100g). Result on amino acid composition showed that they contained lysine (2.11 mg/100g), arginine (1.77 mg/100g), aspartic acid (2.13 mg/100g), threonine (1.85 mg/100g), histidine (4.71 mg/100g), serine (2.03 mg/100g), glycine (1.05 mg/100g), alanine (3.31 mg/100g), cystine (5.06 mg/100g), valine (0.88 mg/100g), leucine (2.04 mg/100g), phenyalanine (4.72 mg/100g), tyrosine (3.51 mg/100g), isoleucine (2.84 mg/100g), methionine (0.85 mg/100g) and proline (1.05 mg/100g). It was concluded that  Sida acuta leaf extract is rich in various nutrients and phytochemicals conferring it the ability to perform multiple biological activities and as a natural alternative to antibiotics.