Effect of supplementation of Moringa leaf powder on growth and production performance of Pratapdhan chicken under organic management system

Abstract

newline An experiment was conducted at Poultry Farm, Department of Animal newlineProduction, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT Udaipur (Rajasthan). The main newlineobjectives of the experiment were to study the effect of Moringa leaf supplementation newlineon growth performance, haemato-biochemical parameters, carcass traits, feed intake newlineand feed conversion ratio, egg production and egg quality. newlineThree hundred sixty Pratapdhan chicks of 4 weeks age were used for a period newlineof 22 weeks (12 week for growth and 10 week for egg production). The chicks were newlinewing banded and distributed randomly in six treatment groups, consisting of 60 chicks newlinein each treatment group with three replication of 20 birds each. Six treatments were: newlineT1: control (conventional feed), T2: feed of organic origin, T3: T2+ 2.5% Moringa leaf newlinepowder, T4: T2 + 5% Moringa leaf powder, T5: T2 + 7.5% Moringa leaf powder, T6: T2 newline+ 10% Moringa leaf powder. newlineThe results revealed that supplementation of various levels of MLP newlinesupplemented diets had comparable body weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) newlineduring 16th week, whereas, MLP supplemented at 2.5 and 5% have improved the body newlineweight gain and FCR with an enhanced overall growth performance. The digestibility newlinecoefficient of dry matter, ether extract, crude protein, crude fibre and NFE were newlinesignificantly higher in the birds fed 5% Moringa leaf powder as compared to the control newlineand 10% MLP during growth period. The data revealed that all parameters of carcass newlinetraits in different treatments were significantly different except organ weight which was newlinefound to be non-significant. However, the live weight, dressed weight, eviscerated newlineweight and dressing weight (%) was significantly higher than control on newlinesupplementation with 5% MLP. newlineThe hematological parameters were within range but statistically non- newlinesignificant difference was noted among all the treatment groups. The data with respect to stress biomarkers, the level of LPO was significantly higher in T3 as compared to newlineother treatment groups