EFFECTS OF RAW PIGEON PEA (Cajanuscajan) SEED MEAL DIETS ON THE HAEMATOLOGICAL INDICES OF BROILER STARTER CHICKS

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of raw Pigeon Pea (Cajanuscajan) seed meal (PSM) diet on the heamatological indices of broilers chicks. A total of ninety unsexed day old broilerschicks were assigned to a two inclusion levels of raw PSM (30 and 40%) in the diets and four levels of amino acid supplementation (lysine, methionine, Lysine + methionine and no supplementation). All in a 2x4 factorial in a completely randomized design (CRD). Each treatment had three replications. There were 30 birds per treatment and 10 birds per replicate. Data was recorded for haemoglobin content (HBC), packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC). The organ characteristics measured were heart, liver, empty gizzard, small intestine, large intestine, caeca, proventriculum and spleen. Results showed that raw PSM diets included at 30 or 40% of the diets of starter broilers significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the WBC (6.61 or 6.36 g/l) of broilers compared to WBC (8.13g/l) of broilers fed control diet. Supplementation of the PSM diets with lysine and or methionine significantly (P <0.050 affected all haematological indices.