Abstract:
High cost of poultry feed and
limited fishmeal are currently the major
challenges in poultry production. To reduce
cost while maximizing production, there is
the need to use cheap but high nutritional
feed sources like Moringa oleifera. The aim
of the study was to assess the effects of
Moringa oleifera on the growth performance
of broiler chicken by measuring their live
weight, rate of mortality, feed conversion
ratio and benefit cost (b/c) ratio. Field
experiment was carried out at the Animal
Science Department farm, located in the
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology, Kumasi-Ghana. A total of 30-
day old chicks were raised for eight weeks
under the required conditions, with all
vaccines administered appropriately. The
experiment was laid in a Complete
Randomized Design with five treatments
namely T1= 100% conventional feed only
(as control), T2= 50% MoLM (Moringa
oleifera Leaf Meal) + 50% conventional,
T3= 75% MoLM + 25% conventional, T4=
25% MoLM + 75% conventional, T5= 80%
MoLM and each treatment replicated six
times. The result showed no significant
differences between the various treatment for
the feed conversion ratio and live weight at
different growth periods. The benefit/cost
ratio of T1 was more than one while the
other treatments were less than one. T4 (25%
MoLM) had a b/c ratio close to one. In
conclusion, Moringa oleifera leaf meal at
different levels can be used to supplement
the fishmeal component in the poultry diet of
broiler chicken to produce similar results as
that of the conventional feed. The study
recommends that farmers can adopt Moringa
oleifera based poultry feed for their bird
production when they cannot afford the
conventional feed (fish meal-based feed) to
cut down cost economically while increasing
productivity.
