Haematological indices and serum biochemistry of broiler chicken fed finisher diets, supplemented with dried fermented pawpaw (Carica papaya) seed powder.

Abstract

Arbitrary increase in the cost of feed, in most developing countries of the world precipitated the use of unconventional feed ingredients without recourse to the likely effect on the health status of the animals and one of the ways to determine this effect, is the studies on Haematology and Serum biochemistry. This study investigated the effects of dried fermented Pawpaw seed (Carica papaya) on the haematological and Serum biochemistry of broiler chicken. A total of 200-day old broiler chicks were used for the experiment, 150 healthy birds were selected and divided among the 5 treatments. 30 birds were assigned to each treatment i.e 10 birds replicated thrice. The treatments were T1: (control, normal basal diet without FDPS), T2: 5% of FDPS, T3: 10% of FDPS, T4: 15% of FDPS and T5: 20% of FDPS. The feeding trial commenced on the 5th week (29th day) and ended on the 8th week (56th day). The pulverized fermented pawpaw seed powder was compounded with the finished diet at varying levels of inclusion under a hygienic environment. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in the haematological parameters measured across the treatments indicating that, no adverse effects on the consumption of the test ingredients. Creatinine levels in the serum were however not significantly (P>0.05) influenced by the diet even though diets 2, 3, 4 and 5 had less values compared with the control, indicating that there was no renal damage attributable to the dietary inclusion of fermented pawpaw seed in chickens’ diets.