Pathological effects of Curcuma zedoaria (shoti) flour feeding in growing broilers

Abstract

Curcuma zedoaria (shoti), is one of the underexploited natural bounty which is considered as a good source of food and or feed for humans and as well as birds. In the present study, we investigated the effects of shoti meal as a primary source of carbohydrate in the growing broiler diet. The birds were fed with the shoti meal @ 10, 20, 40% raw and 20% autoclaved meal/Kg and fed for 19 days. The diet was estimated to have contributed to 83 g crude protein and 750 g starch/Kg dry flour. The results have shown that although there had been no deaths, however, broilers fed on different levels of flour grew slowly. Gross changes included lesions of necrotic enteritis and varying degrees of alterations in the gut and coxo-femoral joints. Entire articular cartilage was separated from the sub-chondral bone. The mesentery was depleted of fat, so was the abdominal and the fat pad from the thighs. The experimental birds appeared to be leaner than the corresponding control. The liver showed fatty changes and chronic inflammatory changes with non-specific granuloma in the parenchyma. The results suggested that more research should be carried out before considering Curcuma zedoaria as a feed source for the poultry.