A. Donkoh et al., The nutritive value of chaya leaf meal (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius (Mill.) Johnston): studies with broiler chickens, ANIM FEED S, 77(1-2), 1999, pp. 163-172
Chaya leaf meal (CLM) (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius (Mill.) Johnston) was eval
uated as a poultry feed ingredient in a series of two pilot studies. Tn exp
eriment I, diets containing 0, 25, 50 and 75 g CLM kg(-1) were fed, ad libi
tum, to 480 day-old broiler chicks for a period of 8 weeks. Birds had free
access to water. The concentration of CLM in the diet had no effect on feed
consumption. Overall significant correlations were found between the conce
ntrations of CLM in the diet and weight gain (r = -0.98) and feed : gain ra
tio (r = 0.99). The level of CLM in the diet was shown to be strongly corre
lated with the carcass dressing percentage (r = -0.97). Mortality rates of
birds fed CLM-containing diets were markedly lower than those fed the chaya
-free diet. Increased concentrations of red blood cells, haemoglobin, haema
tocrit and decreased total serum cholesterol as well as increased liver and
heart weights were observed in birds fed diets containing high amounts of
CLM. CLM could be included in chicks' diet at concentrations up to 25 g kg(
-1) without an adverse effect on performance. In experiment II, 240 broiler
chicks were fed diets containing 0 or 25 g CLM kg(-1) and with or without
100 g oil palm slurry (OPS) kg(-1) from day-old to 8 weeks of age. The diet
s were formulated to be isonitrogenous but not isoenergetic. The OPS-contai
ning diets were higher in energy content. Birds fed the OPS diet and the ch
aya leaf meal (CLM)-and oil palm slurry (OPS)-combined diet gained the high
est (p<0.01) weight. The efficiency of feed utilisation was similar to that
of body weight gains. Carcass dressing percentage followed the same trend.
Furthermore, mortality rates of birds fed CLM-free diets were markedly hig
her than those fed the CLM-containing diets. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.