THE EFFECT OF USING NEEM LEAF POWDER AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO ANTIBIOTICS ON SOME PRODUCTIVE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS OF BROILER

Abstract

This study was conducted in the poultry house, Nasser faculty for Agricultural Sciences, University of Aden, for the period from 28/1/2021AD until 3/3/2021AD, with the aim of knowing the effect of using neem leaf powder as an alternative to antibiotics on some productive and physiological traits of broilers. In this study 150 unsexed ROSS broiler chicks were used, which were divided into three treatments (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5) with three replicates for each treatment, and ten chicks for each replicate, and treatment T1 represented the control (0) and treatment T2 Oxytetracycline antibiotic 160 mg/kg feed, T3 treatment Oxytetracycline antibiotic 240 mg/kg feed, T4 neem leaf powder 2g/kg feed, T5 neem leaf powder 4g/kg feed.This study showed that there were significant differences (P<0.05) for the characteristics of body weight, weight gain, and feed conversion factor for the neem and antibiotic groups compared with the control group, while no significant differences (P<0.05) were observed for the two characteristics of feed consumption and mortality among the experimental groups. As for the characteristics of the carcass, no significant differences were observed for the gizzard, spleen, belly fat, dressing ratio among the experimental groups, while significant differences (P<0.05) were observed for each of the liver of the neem groups (T4, T5) compared with the antibiotic and control groups (T3, T2, T1), and heart for neem and antibiotic groups compared with the control. Regarding the blood characteristics, there were no significant (P<0.05) differences between the experimental groups. As for the biochemical characteristics of the blood (total protein, cholesterol, triglycerides, and uric acid), significant differences (P<0.05) were observed for the T4, T5 and anti-Neem groups. The T3 antibiotic compared with the T2 antibiotic group and the T1 control group, as for blood glucose, no significant differences (P<0.05) were, we conclude from the experiment that neem leaf powder had a positive effect on the productive traits (average body weight, weight gain, and food conversion factor), the relative weight of the liver and heart, as well as the blood biochemical indicators, total protein, cholesterol, triglycerides, and uric acid.