Journal of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of Spondias mombin leaf meal on the blood indices of broiler finisher birds. Spondias mombin leaf meal was used to formulate four broiler finisher rations at 0.0, 5.0, 10.0 and 15.0% inclusion levels. Four groups of fifteen broiler chicks (28 days old) of Agrited breed were randomly assigned to four treatment diets in a completely randomized design and fed for 28 days. Each group was further subdivided into three replicates of five birds each. At the end of the feeding trial, blood was collected from three birds per treatment for haematological and biochemical analysis. Results showed that the haemoglobin (10.90 to 11.90 g/dl) and the red blood cells (32.6 to 36.33 x10¹²/L) were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) at 10.0 and 15.0% dietary level compared to the control. The packed cell volume was significantly decreased (P < 0.05) at 15.0% dietary level compared to the control. The mean cell haemoglobin, mean cell volume, white blood cells and the eosinophils (%), did not show any treatment effect (P > 0.05). The biochemical indices showed that total serum protein, albumin, globulin, urea, creatinine and the enzyme-alkaline phosphatase were not affected by treatments (P> 0.05). Cholesterol was significantly decreased at 10.0 and 15.0% dietary levels. It was therefore concluded that, Spondias mombin leaf meal was not toxic to the blood of finisher broilers and therefore could be incorporated into broiler finisher ration up to 15.0% level without any deleterious effect.