GUT HISTOMORPHOMETRIC AND BLOOD PROFILE OF BROILER CHICKS FED VARIED LEVELS OF PROTEIN

Abstract

Background: Gut plays active role in screening what goes into the blood stream and blood is very important parameter to access for us to establish the health status of animal to any dietary variation, this will help the producer ability to guaranty the consumers’ health. Therefore this research was designed to determine gut histomorphometry and blood profile of broiler starter fed varied levels of protein. Material and method: A total of 144 days-old-broiler chicks were used for the study. Broiler standard starter mash with varied protein percentages of 20, 23, and 26%, respectively for treatments 1, 2 and 3 were used. Data were analysed using ANOVA at ?0.05. Results: Except crude protein and ash contents, others nutrient digestibilities were not affected by the dietary treatments. Birds fed lower crude protein had the lowest crude protein digestibility while birds fed standard diet (23% CP) had the best and highest crude protein digestibility. White blood cell decrease with decrease dietary protein, this might have serious effect on the immunity level of the broilers.Also globulin increases while albumin decreases with increase in dietary protein levels. Serum total protein increases with increase in the dietary protein levels and diet with26% CP recorded the highest value (5.82g/dL). Serum cholesterol values were significantly higher at lower protein level unlike serum protein whiledifferent gut parts response significantly different to dietary treatments. Conclusion: At early stage broiler growth, diet need to have higher CP to improve the immunity and health growth of gut.