Efficacy of Christmas melon and neem extracts on the growth performance, carcass characteristics and cost benefit of broiler chickens as alternative to new castle and infectious bursal disease vaccines

Abstract

The experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of Christmas melon and Neem extract on the growth performance, carcass characteristics, organ characteristics and cost benefits of broiler chickens. The experiment employed a completely randomized design. All data generated were subjected to analysis of variance. A total of one hundred day old Abor Acre broiler chickens were used in this study, the birds were weighed on arrival to the brooding pen to know the initial weight of the birds; the birds were fed with formulated broiler diets for both starter and finisher phases for the 56 days the experiment lasted. The birds were divided in to 4 treatments, replicated five times with 5 birds per replicate. Treatment I the control diet (placed on normal Lasota and Gumboro vaccines), treatment II were placed on Christmas melon extract (CME), Treatment III were placed on Neem Extract (NE), Treatment IV were on mixture of 1:1 Christmas melon and Neem Extract. All the parameters examined on the performance had statistical similar values when compared (p>0.05) with the birds on the control. The production cost of birds on Treatment II, III, and IV reduced but not statistically (p>0.05) when compared to the control birds. Furthermore, the birds on treatment II were more profitable when compared to other treatments. It was concluded that replacement of Lasota and Gumboro vaccines with Neem Extract and Christmas melon in broiler production enhanced the growth performance and antioxidant capacity of the birds without any deleterious effect on their health status.