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The growth performance, carcass qualities, organs weight and haematology of ninety-six (96) day-old Agritech broiler birds fed Turmeric powder additive were evaluated. The birds were reared on deep litter system and were randomly allotted to four (4) treatments of graded dietary levels (0, 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5%) of Turmeric powder denoted as; T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. Each treatment with 24 birds was also replicated thrice with 8 birds per replicate in a Completely randomized design for 56 days. Performance indicators measured included feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, carcass and organ weights and haematological parameters. Results showed that turmeric additive elicited significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) across treatments. Bodyweight gain (2113.00g) and feed conversion ratio (2.02) were significantly higher in broilers fed diets with 1.5% turmeric powder (T2) than those on other treatments. Turmeric additive also improved the carcass and organ weights as well as the haematological parameters in which the erythrocytic and leukocytic counts were not significantly different (P ≥ 0.05) in T2, T3 and T4 except for the control. However, the overall positive effect of turmeric powder in broiler diet was observed in T2 (1.5%) following improved feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio and this inclusion level is advocated while further research in other avian species available in warm wet regions of Nigeria is suggested.

Growth rate assessment is an important husbandry practice often carried out in livestock breeding and fattening. Meat production is the most important trait in the breeding objectives of sheep production. Useful information on the suitability of the animals for meat production could be evaluated on a morphological basis. The aim of this study was to investigate breed differences in liveweight, carcass traits and muscle distribution for meat characteristics among Balami (BA), Uda (UD), Yankasa (YK) and West African Dwarf rams (WAD). A total of forty-eight rams were randomly assigned into four groups of twelve rams per breed in a completely randomized design. Body linear measurements were obtained weekly during the fattening period. At the end of the feeding trial, animals were subjected to an 18-hours fast and slaughtered for carcass measurements and muscle distribution. Results showed that BA and UD had higher values for body length (115.75±4.25 and110.25±1.89cm), withers height (70.50±5.57and69.00±2.16cm) and heartgirth (92.00±2.94and84.00±1.41cm), than YK (96.50±3.87, 60.75±3.30 and 76.75±0.96cm), respectively which in turn had higher values than WAD (86.50±5.20, 53.25±5.32 and 75.25±3.30cm). Carcass length, pistol length, and leg length were75.75±4.79,60.75±7.14 and 88.00±2.16; 75.50±4.66, 56.00±5.00 and 80.25±5.80; 59.00±7.79, 56.00±10.62 and 71.50±2.65; 60.50±3.11, 53.75±5.91 and 61.00±2.94cm for BA, UD, YK and WAD rams, respectively. BA and UD had higher proportion of muscle distribution and were generally better than the YK and WAD breeds. This may boost their potential for large scale meat production under fattening conditions.