Evaluation of haematological and blood serum indices of broiler starter fed varying levels of sun dried cassava peels meal as partial replacement for wheat bran

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the effect of sun dried cassava peels meal on haematological and blood serum indices of broiler starter chicks. Atotal of 150 unsexed, day old broiler chickens (Arbor acre) were randomly allotted into 5 dietary treatments (T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5) containing 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% sun dried cassava peal meal (SDCPM), respectively as replacement for wheat bran. Each treatment consisted of 3 replicates of 10 birds each in a Completely Randomized Designed (CRD). At four (4) weeks of age, experimental birds were starved overnight, and blood was harvested for hematological and serum assays. The results showed no significant difference (p>0.05) among parameters examined except globulin and albumin globulin ratio that were significantly (p<0.0) different. Globulin ranged between 5.43g/dl (T1, 0%) to 7.04g/dl (T5, 40%). Albumin globulin ratio ranged from 0.50in T4 and T5 to 0.63 in T2. It could be concluded that SDCPM performed favourably with control at all levels of inclusions (10,20, 30 and 40%SDCPM), therefore, it could be used to replace wheat bran in the diet of broiler starter without any deleterious effect on health status of chickens.