NL Journal of Veterinary and Animal Nutrition

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Growth Promoting and Antimicrobial Activities of Justicia Secunda (Vahl) Leaf Meal Supplemented Diets in an Experimental Broiler Chickens

Author(s) : Adebayo I.A, Arogbodo J.O*, Obiechina A.M.

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Abstract

The ban of antibiotics as growth promoter in animal production in many countries due to their challenges necessitates seeking for alternatives in which medicinal plants were identified. In this study, 96 day-old broilers were experimented for 6 weeks. They were brooded for two weeks before introducing the experimental diets. This entails a random allotment of 8 broilers into four dietary treatments 0, 5, 10 and 15 g/kg (diets 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively) of air-dried leaf meal of Justicia secunda in a completely randomized design (CRD). The broilers were fed with the experimental diets and water (ad libitum) for 28 days after which 3 (three) birds per replicate were sacrificed for performance evaluation. Faecal samples were collected for four weeks from each of the replicates for microbial analysis. After the analysis of the data, the treatments significantly (p 0.05). Faecal bacteria load count (cfu/mL) was significantly (p diet 2> diet 3>diet 4. Evidently, birds on 10 g/kg of Justicia secunda leaf meal (JSLM) recorded the highest weight gain, suggesting its growth promoting effect. Overall, it was concluded that JSLM had growth promoting and antibacterial effects with 10 g/kg inclusion level recommended in broiler diets. Keywords: Medicinal Plants, Antibiotics, Growth, Antibacterial, Justicia secunda.

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