Utilization and Evaluation of Moringa Oleifera L. As Poultry Feeds

Three studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of Moringa oleifera leaf powder and leaf meal on chicken layer and broiler diets. The effect of different levels of Moringa oleifera leaf powder (MOLP) on laying performance of 480 Lohmann LSL Classic, 27- week old and the post-molting performance of 240 heads, 89- week old forced-molted Lohmann LSL Classic with 72% egg production were both conducted in four months. They were randomly distributed in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) to 5 dietary treatments with 6-replicate per treatment. One hundred fifty day-old Cobbs broiler were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments in Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with 30 birds per treatment. The treatments include: T1- Basal diets; T2-0.20% MOLM; T3-0.30% MOLM; T4-0.40% MOLM; T5- 0.50% MOLM. The results reveal that feed consumption, FCR, % egg production, income over feed cost, sensory characteristics of egg and shell thickness of 27-42 and 89-101 week old layers were not significantly different (P<0.05).Egg weight and feed cost per kg of egg produced of forced- molted layers were significantly different (P>0.05). Broiler performance in-terms of ADG, feed intake, FCR, final weight and income over feed cost were not relatively better over the control.