Effect of Replacement of Soybean Meal with Leucaena leucocephala Leaf Meal on Performance, Haematology, Carcass Measures and Organ Weight in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effect of replacing soybean meal (SBM) with Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal (LLM) in the diet of broiler chickens. One hundred and fifty one-day-old broiler chicks were allotted to five treatments, each with three replicates and ten birds per replicate in a completely randomized design. The experiment was carried out at the University Teaching and Research Farm, Federal University of Technology Akure. The feeding trial lasted for 8 weeks. The treatments were Diet 1 (control, without LLM replacement) and Diets 2, 3, 4, and 5 where soybean meal (SBM) was replaced by 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of LLM, respectively from 0-56 days of rearing. Substitution of SBM with LLM significantly (P < 0.05) influenced the performance of broilers from day 0-28, but not at 29-56 days. Body weight gain of 907 g was obtained in birds on Diet 3 (50% LLM), while the least value of 553 g was obtained for Diet 5 with 100% LLM. The diet containing 50% LLM had better FCR (2.66) than the other treatments. Substitution of SBM with LLM did not significantly influence the haematological parameters except Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) concentration, which was significantly (P < 0.05) affected. Organ weights were not affected by diet from 0-28 days but from 29-56 days, weights of organs were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced as the level of LLM in diet increased. Carcass parts were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced by dietary LLM at 0-28 and 29-56 days, except for the back, drumstick, neck, head and shank that were not affected by LLM. Results of the study showed that LLM could be used to supplement SBM up to 50% in the diets of broiler chickens to improve performance and without adverse effect on the birds.