GROWTH PERFORMANCE, CARCASS, ORGAN AND HAEMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER CHICKEN GIVEN AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF WILD COLOCYNTH (Lagenariabreviflora) IN REPLACEMENT FOR ANTIBIOTIC

An eight week study was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing antibiotic with aqueous extract of Wild Colocynth (Lagenariabreviflora) [LB] on broiler chicken. Ten litres of boiled and cool water each were used to extracts 1kg, 2kg and 3kg LB which were denoted as Treatments (T) 3, 4 and 5 respectively while Neoceryl and untreated (Water) were Treatments 1 and 2. Five groups of forty day-old broiler chicks each were assigned to the five medication treatments in completely Randomized Design experiment consisting four replicates of ten birds each. Data collected were, feed intake, body weight, Feed conversion Ratio (FCR), mortality, haematology, blood serum, carcass and organs characteristics. These were analyzed using Analysis of Variance at 5% probability level. Results showed that Final weight (FWT) and Average Daily Gain (ADG) of the birds given T1 (2.5kg and 44.5g), T3 (2.57kg and 45.25g) and T4 (2.51kg and 44.40g) were similar and higher (P<0.05) than those given T2(2.12kg and 37.3g) and T5(2.26kg and 39.7g). The lowest FWT and ADG were observed in the birds that were not medicated. The FCR and Feed cost/kg gain were lower in birds given T1, T3 and T4 than those given T2 and T5. Feed intake, carcass weight, abdominal fat and blood serum parameters were not affected by medication treatments. The RBC and PCV of birds that were medicated were similar while values observed in untreated were lower. Highest mortality and WBC were observed in birds that were not treated. In conclusion, administration of Wild Colocynth (Lagenariabreviflora) extract at 1, 2 and 3kg/10litres of water enhanced the growth, survivability and health status of broiler chicken.