Studies on supplementation of moringa oleifera leaf powder on gut health of broilers and moisture percentage of litter in poultry shed

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate effect of supplementation of moringa oleifera leaf powder on gut health of broilers and moisture percentage of litter in poultry house. The research work was conducted on day old four hundred straight-run broiler chicks. The day old Vencobb-400 chicks were randomly distributed into 4 treatment groups and each treatment group had 4 replicates of 25 chicks each. A control group (T0) was fed basal diet adequate in all nutrients as per BIS (2007) and birds in treatment groups T1, T2 and T3 were offered basal diet containing Moringa oleifera leaf powder at 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6%, respectively. Results of study revealed that, the total viable and coliform counts in treatment group were slightly decreased than control but having non significant difference at 42nd day of experiment. The mean weekly litter moisture percentages were found significantly reduced at 21st day age. However, the mean weekly litter moisture percentage was reduced at 42nd day age but differences are statistically non-significant. Thus, the supplementation of Moringa oleifera leaf powder was found helpful in boosting up gut health of birds and maintain lower moisture percentage of litter material in poultry shed.