Growth performance, heamatology and serum biochemistry of broiler chicks fed diets containing different clay sources

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the effect of diets containing different clay sources on the growth performance, heamatology and  serum biochemistry of broiler chicks. One hundred and twenty broilers were allocated to five treatments diets containing different clay  sources having three replicates of eight broilers in a completely randomized design. Data were collected on body weight, feed intake,  total protein, albumin, glucose, total cholesterol, urea, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, triglyceride, aspartate  transaminase and alanine transaminase, hemoglobin, red blood cell, white blood cell, lymphocytes, and packed cell volume. The total  weight gain, average daily weight gain, total feed intake, average daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio and feed efficiency ratio were  calculated. Results showed that growth performance parameters were not significantly (p > 0.05) different at the starter phase but serum  biochemistry and haematological parameters except red blood cells were significantly (p < 0.05) different. The T3 diets containing clay  formed by sprinter termites improved the serum biochemistry as well as haematological indices of broiler better than the other sources  of clay used in this experiment. This implies that the clay in T3 had the greatest capacity to bind to the toxins contained in the feed  probably due to the high mineral contents.