Comparative effect of African locust bean, baobab and Prosopis africana pulp meal supplementation as natural ascorbic on blood constituent of broiler chickens raised under high temperature

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of African locust beans, baobab and Prosopis africana pulp meal supplementation as natural ascorbic acid on blood constituent of broiler chickens raised during the hottest months April-May with an average temperature of about 40°C. One hundred and eight (108) broiler chickens (marshall) were allotted to four dietary treatments replicated three times with (9) birds per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). The inclusion levels of the Synthetic Ascorbic Acid (SAA) and Natural Ascorbic Acid (NAA) in the water were 0 g/l, 40 g/l, 40 g/l and 40 g/l designated as treatments 1 (control), 2 (African locust beans), 3 (baobab), and 4 (Prosopis africana pulp) respectively. The experiment lasted for eight (8) weeks. The haematological and biochemical indices of the birds were determined. The result revealed significant (p>0.05) difference in the haematological indices. The serum biochemistry indicated significantly (p<0.05) higher: glucose (163.34 g/dl); cholesterol (183.26 g/dl and urea (4.33 mg/dl) in all the treatments. There were no significant (p>0.05) difference among the treatment for total protein, albumin and globulin. This study revealed that SAA and NAA could be fed to broiler chickens up to 40 g/l without detrimental effect and boost the defensive mechanism of the bird raised in hot climatic environment.