Effect of dietary inclusion of Moringa oleifera leaf meal on growth performance and cost economics of broilers

Murali, L., Kumari, K. Nagaraja, Nath, D. Narendra and Kumar, D. Srinivas 2020. Effect of dietary inclusion of Moringa oleifera leaf meal on growth performance and cost economics of broilers. Indian Journal of Poultry Science, 55(3): 229-232.

A research work was carried out to assess the effect of dietary inclusion of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) on growth performance of ROSS broilers. Day old chicks (n=180) were distributed randomly into six dietary groups each with five replicates of 6 birds and were maintained under uniform management conditions and reared up to six weeks. The dietary treatments include Moringa oleifera leaf meal at 0% (T₁: negative control), T₁ + Vit-E, Se, Vit-C (T₂: positive control), 1.5% (T₃), 3.0% (T₄), 4.5% (T₅) and 6.0% (T₆) levels by marginal adjustment of other feed ingredients. All the rations were made iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous as per BIS (2007). Results indicated higher (p<0.01) body weights and body weight gains in birds fed with positive control, 1.5 and 3% MOLM. The overall feed intake decreased (p<0.01) with increase in level of MOLM (0 to 6.0%) in the diet compared with the control. While better (p<0.01) FCR was recorded at 3.0% level of MOLM inclusion. The feed cost / kg gain was lowest (p<0.01) in broilers fed with 3.0% MOLM as compared with other treatment groups. Based on the current study, it was concluded that MOLM can be incorporated up to 3% levels in broilers diets for economic benefits.