Journal of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine

This study evaluated the effects of graded dietary inclusion of Sida acuta leaf meal on growth performance and serum hormone profile of broiler chickens. One hundred and twenty day-old Ross 308 broiler chicks were assigned to four dietary treatments, with three replicates of 10 birds per treatment, in a completely randomised design. The study lasted eight weeks, comprising a four-week brooding period on a commercial starter diet followed by four weeks of experimental feeding with diets containing 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% Sida acuta leaf meal g/kg feed, at the Teaching and Research Farm, Department of Agricultural Education, Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, Rivers State, Nigeria. Fresh leaves were washed, oven-dried at 40 °C for five days, milled and incorporated into the diets by weight-for-weight replacement of maize. Initial body weight did not differ among treatments (p > 0.05). Final body weight increased from 2 215.33 g in T1 to 2 498.67 g in T4, weight gain from 2 174.67 to 2 458.00 g/bird, average daily gain from 77.67 to 87.79 g/bird/day, total feed intake from 4 142.33 to 4 358.67 g/bird, and feed conversion ratio improved (decreased) from 1.91 to 1.78. Mortality was low and not significantly different among treatments (range 0.00–3.33 %; p = 0.412). Serum triiodothyronine (T3) increased from 1.85 to 2.78 ng/mL, thyroxine (T4) from 14.32 to 19.85 ng/mL, T3:T4 ratio from 0.130 to 0.141, and testosterone from 1.42 to 2.31 ng/mL, while cortisol decreased from 4.85 to 2.92 ng/mL. All reported treatment effects were significant at p < 0.05 unless otherwise stated. Polynomial contrasts indicated significant linear trends for all performance and hormone endpoints, with significant quadratic components for final body weight, FCR, T3, cortisol and testosterone. The results indicated that Sida acuta leaf meal was associated with improved growth performance, increased circulating T3, T4 and testosterone concentrations, and reduced serum cortisol concentration under the conditions of the experiment; the 15 g/kg treatment produced the most favourable measured response across all endpoints.