Abstract
The poultry industry recently utilized locally abundant plant sources that are phytobiotics and environmentally friendly to improve production performance and boost the fowl’s immune system. However, plants may contain some anti-nutritive factors that might negatively affect the production performance. A total of sixty-day-old broiler chickens were used to investigate the potential of Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) Pod Meal (MPM) on production performance and cell-mediated immunity. The broiler chickens were assigned in a Completely Randomized Design experimental set-up with four dietary treatments. Each treatment was replicated three times, with five birds in every replication and fed with MPM at 0 (T1), 5 (T2), 10 (T3), and 15% (T4) levels in 42 days feeding trial. Moringa pod meals’ chemical composition contains 13.02% crude protein, 36.98% crude fiber, 5.94% ash, and 11.33% moisture. The results revealed no significant differences (p>0.05) in the final weight, body weight gain, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio of broiler chickens. Numerically, the highest final weight and weight gains were observed in birds fed with MPM. Moreover, the voluntary feed intake was significantly (p 0.05) observed in the indicators of cell-mediated immunity (immune organ indices), but numerical values showed higher in broiler chickens fed with MPM than broilers without MPM in the diet. The highest return of investment was observed in T3 with PhP106.48, and T1 obtained the lowest income generated with Php101.49 per bird. In light of the findings, incorporating MPM in the diets seems potential to improve broiler chickens production and immune responses, however further studies using large population of birds should be warranted.
Highlights
Poultry production provides a base for the socio-economic advancement in most developing countries, which has led to increased demand for poultry products (Hussein & Jassim, 2019)
The body weight gain and average daily gain were significantly different (p
Chemical Composition of Moringa Pod Meal In the present study, the chemical analysis of Moringa Pod Meal in terms of crude protein and ash content is lower compared to the analysis of Ahmad et al (2018), who reported that the MPM has 18.98% crude protein and 7.88 ash content, respectively
Summary
Poultry production provides a base for the socio-economic advancement in most developing countries, which has led to increased demand for poultry products (Hussein & Jassim, 2019). In the Philippines, the chicken industry is considered one of the fastest-growing livestock sectors, with a total inventory of 186.33 million birds (PSA, 2020). June 2021 | Volume 9 | Issue 2 | Page 170 are increasing along with the demand for chicken products. The broiler industry faces threats, and one of these is the increasing consumer concerns over food safety, product quality, animal welfare, and environmental issues associated with industrialized poultry production systems (Chang, 2007). To improve poultry production’s economic status, various researchers developed preferences such as using natural or organic supplements instead of using synthetic or inorganic medicaments (Zeweil et al, 2006).
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