CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND GROWTH PROMOTING EFFECT OF PIPER GUINEENSE LEAF AND SEED MEALS ON BROILER CHICKS AT STARTER PHASE.

The study was designed to compare the chemical composition of Piper guineense leaf and seed meals, and their effect on the performance of broilers at starter phase. The P. guineense leaves and seeds were processed and their chemical composition determined. Seven (7) broiler starter diets were formulated, with the control without the test samples, while diets 2, 3 and 4 were formulated to include 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 % of P. guineense seed meal, respectively. P. guineense leaf meal was included at 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 % respectively in diets 4, 5 and 6. Two hundred and ten day-old broiler chicks were divided into seven groups and each group assigned to one of the experimental diets in a randomized complete block design and data generated were analyzed using SPSS 17.0. P. guineense leaf meal was superior (p<0.05) in crude protein (15.87 %) and ether extract (2.52 %), relative to the seed meal with higher crude fibre (6.30 %) and ash (3.60 %) contents. P. guineense seed meal contained lower phytochemical compounds compared to the leaf meal. Broiler chicks fed P. guineense seed and leaf meals supplemented diets were superior (p<0.05) to those fed on control diet in their mean daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio. Within the treatment groups, birds on 0.4 % P. guineense seed meal diet recorded the best performance. It was concluded that broiler diets could be supplemented with P. guineense seed meal at 0.4% during the starter phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]