The Nutritive Profile of Sun-Dried Paw-Paw (Carica Papaya) Leaf Meal and its Effect on the Growth Performance of Broiler Chickens

Feeding trial was conducted on sixty day-old Anak broiler chicks of average weight of 204.11+3.29g for eight weeks to evaluate the effect of sun-dried paw-paw leaf meal (PLM) on their growth performance as well as proximate composition analysis on the PLM. The birds were assigned to four treatment diets comprising T1 (0% PLM), T2 (5% PLM), T3 (10% PLM) and T4 (15% PLM) in a completely randomized design. They were replicated thrice with 5 chicks per replicate. All data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and difference in means separated using Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test. The results showed that PLM contains crude protein (25.30%), crude fibre (8.86%), ether extract (0.81%), ash (8.88%), nitrogen-free extract (43.82%) and moisture (12.33%). The average daily weight gains and feed conversion ratios (FCR) were not significantly different (P>0.05) among all the treatments although demonstrated progressive numerical increase in weight gains as the PLM increased in the diets. Similar trend was also observed in the FCR where T4(4.01) was better than T3 (4.11) and T2 (4.12) but not T1 (3.92). The average daily feed intake showed a significant difference (P<0.05) when T4 (120.69g) was compared with T3 (119.27g), T2 (119.24g) and T1 (115.40g). Similarly, T1Showed a statistical difference (P<0.05) when compared with other treatments but no significant difference (P>0.05) when T2 and T3 were compared in this respect. Therefore, inclusion of PLM up to 15% in broilers’ diet is recommended for improvement in weight gain.