ASSESSMENTS OF GROWTH PERFORMANCE, CARCASS TRAITS, BLOOD SERUM QUALITY AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF CHICKENS FED LEMON BASIL LEAF MEAL
The global chicken industry is experiencing significant challenges as a result of applying artificial growth promoters (antibiotics) that have led to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance and food safety concerns among consumers. The study provides a critical evaluation of the effect of dietary supplementation of lemon basil (Ocimum basilicum) leaf on the performance of broiler chickens. A total of one hundred and eighty day-old broiler chicks were randomly divided into five treatment groups with three replicas each. The treatments were a control (0 g lemon basil per kg of feed) but received antibiotic medication and four supplemented treatments that were receiving 5, 10, 15 or 20 g of ground air-dried lemon basil leaf per kg of feed. The weekly growth performance was monitored, and the carcass characteristics, biochemical parameters, and nutrient digestibility at the end of the trial. The results showed that moderate supplementation (5 g/kg) was significantly (p < 0.05) effective in improving the feed ratio (1.78), dressing percentage (77.54%), and breast muscle yield (27.23). But, an increase in the inclusion levels (1520 g/kg) had negative impacts on the final body weight and FCR. According to serum biochemistry, supplementation of 5 g and 20 g increased levels of albumin, but alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity at 10 g and 20 g, which is indicative of better protein metabolism and bone formation. The nutrient digestibility analysis showed that the inclusion of 20 g of nutrient significantly improved the crude protein digestibility (13.98%), relative to the control (12.39%). The study comes to the conclusion that lemon basil is a safe and effective phytogenic feed supplement in broilers and that a recommended inclusion rate of 5 g/kg of feed will yield the highest amount of growth and carcass traits, whereas a higher rate of 20 g /kg will yield the highest amount of protein utilization.
KEYWORDS: chickens, additives, leaf, powder, nutrient
