HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF THE NIGERIAN LOCAL GROWER CHICKENS FED VARYING DIETARY LEVELS OF PALM KERNEL CAKE

The effect of feeding varying dietary levels of Palm Kernel Cake (PKC) on the haematological parameters of the Nigerian local grower chicken was investigated. Sixty (60) nine-week old local chickens were randomly allotted to five experimental diets at four birds per three replicates. Five isonitrogenous (17% CP) grower diets containing 2,813 to 3,070 Kcal ME/kg with varying levels of 10, 15, 20 and 25% PKC used to replace maize and soybean in diets 2, 3, 4 and 5 were formulated respectively. Diet 1 without PKC (0% PKC) was the control. Feed and water were supplied ad libitum for ten weeks. Packed cell volume, haemoglobin, red blood cell, platelets, heterophil and eosinophil were similar (p>0.05) among birds across diets whereas variations in white blood cell (15.95 to 19.53 x 106/mm3), lymphocytes (60.00 to 67.00%) and monocytes (0.67 to 2.00%) were significant (p
U ovome radu istraživan je utjecaj hranidbe različitim količinama pogače palminoga sjemena na hematološke parametre u tovu nigerijskih domaćih pilića. Šezdeset pilića u dobi od 9 tjedana nasumce je raspodijeljeno u 5 hranidbenih skupina po četiri pileta u tri ponavljanja. Sastavljeno je pet izoproteinskih (17% sir. bjelančevina) grover smjera koje su sadržavale 2813-3070 Kcal ME/kg s različitim udjelima pogače (od 10, 15, 20 i 25%) kao zamjenom za kukuruz i soju u smjesama 2, 3, 4 i 5. Smjesa 1, bez udjela pogače (0%), bila je kontrola. Pilići su dobivali hranu i vodu ad libitum deset tjedana. Hematokriti, hemoglobin, crvene krvne stanice, trombociti, heterofil i eozinofil imali su slične vrijednosti (p>0.05) u svim skupinama pilića, ali su promjene u bijelim krvnim stanicama (15.95 do 19.53 x 106 /mm3), limfocitima (60.00 do 67.00%) i monocitima (0.67 do 2.00%) bile signifikantne (p