| dc.description.abstract | Antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) have been used for decades to enhance production of meat, poultry growth acceleration, as well as improved disease prevention. The extensive use of antibiotics has led to development of resistant pathogens causing deleterious environmental and public health effects thus the need for antibiotic growth promoters for the poultry industry. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Moringa oleifera and Moringa stenopetala leaves on growth, blood and gut microbiota in broiler chicken. The study was carried out at the Mount Kenya University demonstration farm, Thika. Three hundred one-day-old mixed sex Cobb 500 broiler chicks from Kenchic Ltd, Kenya were used in a completely randomized block study design and twenty treatments used in the experiment. Maceration using aqueous and ethanol was used as the extraction method. The results were analysed using Minitab Version 19.1. First, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used; thereafter, Fisher’s Least Significant Difference was used at 0.05 Level of significance. Results proved that powders from M. Stenopetala and M. oleifera are potent growth promoters. This was evidenced in the body weight gained by the chicks served with the feeds supplemented with graded levels of the studied powders. Similar result was obtained for the ethanolic and aqueous leaf extracts of the studied plants as growth promoters in terms of weight gains. The study showed that both plant leaves did not negatively affect the studied haematological parameters. Upon determination of the effects of the studied plant powders on the selected biochemical parameters, it was concluded that no adverse effects were exhibited. It was also concluded that the studied plant powders and the studied extracts influenced gut microbiota. It was further concluded that the treatment groups of chicken which received the leaf powders of M. oleifera and M. Stenopetala had significantly low total coliform counts (p<0.05).The study showed that the leaf powders of both M. oleifera and M. Stenopetala are endowed with a variety of important nutrients known to promote health in animals and humans. The results showed that the leaf powders of M. oleifera has significantly higher concentration of the assayed vitamins than those in the leaf powder of M. Stenopetala (p<0.05). The two plant powders possess pharmacologically important phytochemicals which are associated with proper growth, melioration of oxidative stress, antimicrobial activity, and immunomodulation as well as health promotion. M. oleifera leaf powder has significantly higher phenolic content than that of M. Stenopetala (p<0.05). From this study, the use of M. oleifera and M. Stenopetala leaf powders as alternative and safer broiler chicken feed supplements is encouraged. Studies geared towards further validation, authentication of the use of M. oleifera and M. Stenopetala in other poultry species are encouraged | en_US |
