Evaluating the Efficacy of Moringa oleifera Seed Extract on Nutrient Digestibility and Physiological Parameters of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

Moringa oleifera seed extract (MSE) contains phytochemicals that can improve chicken production and health. However, the amount that can be orally administered to the birds is unknown. Thus, this study investigated the optimum level of MSE, administered through drinking water, on nutrient digestibility, growth performance, and haematological and serum biochemical parameters in broilers. A total of 250, one-day-old Cobb 500 male broilers (58.11 ± 0.23 g live-weight) were randomly allocated into five treatments with five replicates of 10 birds each. The treatments were: a negative control involving drinking water only (T1) and positive controls with 5 g multi-strain probiotic/L water (T2), 60 mL MSE/L water (T3), 90 mL MSE/L water (T4), and 120 mL MSE/L water (T5). Crude protein and neutral detergent fibre digestibility linearly decreased, whereas overall water intake and weight gain in one-week-old birds increased linearly (p < 0.05) as MSE levels increased. T1 promoted higher (p < 0.05) overall feed intake and feed conversion ratio than the other treatment groups. All haemato-biochemical parameters were within the range for healthy birds, from which a maximum MSE dosage was determined to be 94.75 mL/L. It can be concluded that oral administration of MSE improved overall feed utilisation efficiency of the chickens.