HEMATOLOGICAL QUALITY OF BROILER CHICKEN GIVEN ETHANOL EXTRACT OF WILD COLOCYNTH FRUIT (LAGENARIA BREVIFLORA) IN REPLACEMENT FOR ANTIBIOTIC

An Eight-week experiment was conducted to investigate the hematological quality of broiler chicken given ethanol extract of wild colocynth fruit (Lagenaria breviflora) in replacement for antibiotics. Four medication treatments were used in the experiment. (T1), water was used as the negative control, (T2) 2g of synthetic antibiotic(keproceryl), (T3)0.5ml of ethanol extract of wild colocynth fruit, (T4)1ml of ethanol extract of wild colocynth respectively. One hundred- and twenty-day-old (120) broiler chickens (Ross 308 breed) were randomly divided into 4 groups and the groups were allocated into four (4) treatments replicated three times to give ten (10) birds per replicate in a completely randomized design experiment. Data were collected on hematological parameters (PCV, RBC, Hb, MCV, WBC, MCHC and Platelets). Data collected were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results showed that there were significant differences (P<0.05) between WBC and MCHC while other parameters PCV, RBC, HGB, MCV, and platelets were not affected by the treatment effect and MCHC were depressed by the addition of 1ml ethanol extract of wild colocynth into the water, but the values were within the range for the normal bird. It was concluded that ethanol extract of wild colocynth can be used to replace antibiotics as medication for broiler chicken.