Animal Physiology Department, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Animal Production and Health Department, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Vet Med Sci. 2023 Sep;9(5):2150-2159. doi: 10.1002/vms3.1237. Epub 2023 Aug 7.
Forage plants are considered an essential source of vitamins, protein and energy and could decrease the intake of the conventional diets by up to 10% if young quality forage plants are offered and about 7% of a broiler's daily protein needs and 3% of their daily calorie needs can be met by pasture. However, there is a paucity of data on the quantification of the herbage intake in broiler chickens.
This trial was designed to determine the performance and physiological response of broilers fed diets containing Stylosanthes hamata leaf meal (SHLM) at 0%, 1%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% inclusion (weight for weight) in a basal diet of poultry.
Two hundred and forty-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chicks were used for this trial. They were allocated at random to each of the 6 dietary treatment groups with 4 replicates of 10 chickens each. The study lasted for 35 days, during which data were collected weekly.
Results indicated no difference (p > 0.05) in body weight gain, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio of broiler chickens across all ages. Although the plasma triiodothyronine (T ) concentration of the birds was influenced at the sixth week of age, there was no consistency in the trend. At the eighth week of age, chickens on 15% SHLM had significantly (p < 0.05) higher cortisol (3.22 ng/mL) concentrations compared to 10% (3.13 ng/mL) and 20% (3.16 ng/mL) SHLM treatment groups. Treatment groups, regardless of the age of the chickens, had similar (p > 0.05) mean plasma creatinine values.
The study concluded that SHLM could be incorporated into broiler feed up to 20% without a deleterious impact on physiology and performance indices.
豆科牧草被认为是维生素、蛋白质和能量的重要来源，如果提供优质幼嫩豆科牧草，可使家禽减少 10%的常规饲料摄入量，而放牧可满足肉鸡 7%的日蛋白需求和 3%的日热量需求。然而，有关肉鸡采食量的量化数据却很少。
本试验旨在确定饲粮中添加不同水平（0%、1%、5%、10%、15%和 20%）的艳山姜叶粉（SHLM）对肉鸡生产性能和生理反应的影响。
本试验选用 240 日龄的爱拔益加（Arbor Acres）肉鸡，随机分为 6 个饲粮处理组，每个处理组 4 个重复，每个重复 10 只鸡。试验持续 35 天，每周采集数据。
结果表明，在所有年龄段，肉鸡的体重增重、采食量和饲料转化率均无差异（p>0.05）。虽然第 6 周时鸟类的血浆三碘甲状腺原氨酸（T ）浓度受到影响，但没有一致性趋势。第 8 周时，15%SHLM 组的皮质醇（3.22ng/mL）浓度显著高于 10%（3.13ng/mL）和 20%（3.16ng/mL）SHLM 组（p<0.05）。无论鸡的年龄如何，各处理组的平均血浆肌酐值相似（p>0.05）。
本研究表明，SHLM 可添加至肉鸡饲粮中 20%而不会对生理和生产性能指标产生不利影响。
