International Journal of Agricultural Science Research Vol. 6(4), pp.

018-023, September 2017

Available online at http://academeresearchjournals.org/journal/ijasr
ISSN 2327-3321 ©2017 Academe Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Carcass and performance characteristics of broiler

chickens fed with Cymbopogon citratus leaf meal as
alternative to Mycotoxin binder.
Chioma Gibson Ogbonna1, Akinsoyinu Oladele Akintunde1, Olumide Martha Dupe1, Ajayi
Opeyemi Arinola1, Ndubuisi-Ogbonna Lois Chidinma1, Akinboye Olufunso Emmanuel1,
Adeyeye Joshua A.2, Ayo-Bello Taofeek1 and Afodu Osagie John1*.
1
Department of Agriculture and Industrial Technology, Babcock University Ilisan Remo, Ogun State. Nigeria
2
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Babcock University Ilisan Remo, Ogun State. Nigeria

Accepted 26 September, 2017

The study used a total of one hundred and eighty day old broiler arbo acre chicks were fed with graded
level of Cymbopogon citratus for 8 weeks in order to check the efficacy as alternative to Mycotoxin
binder in aflatoxin contaminated feed of broiler chicken. Six dietary treatments were formulated: A
(control diet) B (contaminated feed with aflatoxin) C (contaminated feed with Mycotoxin binder) D1
(contaminated feed with Cymbopogon at 0.01%) D2 (contaminated feed with Cymbopogon at 0.1%) and
D3 (contaminated feed with Cymbopogon at 0.2%), respectively. Data were collected and analyse on
carcass and performance characteristics with 6 birds representing each treatment in a complete
randomize design values were express in percentage of body weight. Results show that performance
parameters of final body weight gain feed intake feed conversion ratio are significant (p<0.05) from the
control diet but no significant different among the treatment (p<0.05). Carcass and internal organ shows
no significant (p <0.05) with the control diet the breast part ranges from 26.04-22n.64% control diet had
the highest value while treatment D0.01 had the lowest value the thigh were significantly different
values ranging from 12.65-11.42%, respectively. The internal organ shows significant (p<0.05) across
the treatment with C having the highest value for gizzard and diet D2 having the lowest value the liver
value ranges from 2.71-2.30 with the control diet having the highest value. It can therefore be concluded
that Cymbopogon citratus is effective as toxin binder in poultry feed without any negative implication
on both internal and external characteristics of the bird

Keywords: Cymbopogon citratus, Leaf meal, Performance, Carcass

INTRODUCTION

Poultry meat is a rich source of high quality protein, residues in poultry meat and eggs (Sinovec et al., 2006).
minerals and vitamins. Due to economic importance This calls for a serious attention with regard to the quality
attached to chicken and their product give rise to the of chicken meat available to the Nigeria population
need for food safety which is imperative in food especially with the high incidence of Mycotoxin in the
production worldwide. There are numerous Mycotoxins in poultry feed and feeding stuff. (Sinovec et al., 2006). In
the food chain that causes unwanted biological effects in most developing countries, low income earners such as
human and animal organisms upon ingestion (Bryden, rural farmers employ ethno-medical practices to control
2007). High levels of Mycotoxin in food and feed result human and farm animal diseases. The leaves, seeds,
into acute mycotoxicosis and high mortality. Lower levels fruits, barks and roots of some plants are used in the
cause chronic mycotoxicosis sometimes without
manifested clinical symptoms but followed by
considerable decrease in production performance,
immunosuppressive effects and the occurrence of toxic Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].
 Int. J. Agric. Sci. Res. 019

preparation of syrups and infusions for the treatment of broilers in terms of, feed intake (g), weight gain /week
common diseases. The active constituents contributing to and feed consumption to weight ratio on weekly basis.
these curative effects are the phytochemicals, vitamins Carcass evaluation was obtained from 3 birds from each
and minerals (Okwu and Ekeke, 2003). Cymbopogon replicate total 54 birds randomly selected. Primal cuts:
citratus, Acacia alata, Allium sativum, Ocimum santum (breast, thigh, drumstick, back, wing, neck, shank etc)
Azadirachta indica and Andrographis paniculata among and visceral organs (liver, kidney, lungs heart, empty
other plants have been reported to have anti-bacterial, gizzard, whole gizzard and gastro intestinal tract) were
anti-oxidant, immune-potentiating, hepato-protective, harvested.
antifungal and anti-parasitic activities (Sahin et al.,, 2003,
Kitani et al.,2001). Taweechaisupapong et al., (2012) and Statistical Analysis
Bokhari (2009) reported the use of C.citratus oil in the
treatment of dermertophytosis. However, this study Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance
investigated the efficacy of Cymbopogon citratus leaf (ANOVA) using (SAS, 2003) at significant (P < 0.05)
meal as Mycotoxin binders in broiler poultry feed. means were compared using Duncan’s Multiple Range
Test (DMRT).
METHODOLOGY
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Experimental Site

The experiment was carried out at the poultry and Proximate Composition of Cymbopogon citratus Leaf
livestock unit of Babcock University Teaching and Meals
Research farm Ilara Remo Ogun State. Cymbopogon
citratus were harvested from Babcock University Ilishan It was observed from Table 3 that Cymbopogon citratus
Remo Ogun State the plants was identified and properly serve as a good source of crude protein and crude fibre
authenticated at the department of Biological Sciences, in poultry feed with (25.78%) and (4.59) respectively
Babcock University. which is in accordance with NRC 1994 ether extract
(6.35%) and (2.99) indicated Cymbopogon cannot be
Experimental animal and Design used as source of mineral in poultry feed as a result of
low in mineral composition.
One hundred and eighty (180 ) day-old chicks of Arbor-
Acre broiler strain were purchased from Ajanla farms, Proximate Composition of Starter feeds of Broiler
along Lagos-Ibadan expressway. These were randomly Chicken Fed Cymbopogon citratus Leaf Meals as
allocated to six (6) dietary treatments of A, B, C, D1, D2, Alternatives to Mycotoxin Binders
D3 in a complete randomize design in triplicate with 10
birds per replicate. Birds were raised on deep litter Table 4 shows the starter diet, the percentage dry matter
system, feeding troughs were provided at the ratio of 10 and crude protein did not follow any particular trend.
chicks per trough through the 8 weeks. Crude protein in this experiment ranged from 22.68% to
23.23% for starter and 19.52% to 19.60% for finisher.
Leaf Meal Preparation These agree with the value recommended by (NRC,
1994).apparent variation in Ether extract (EE), Crude
Mature fresh leaves of Cymbopogon citratus were
Fibre (CF), Carbohydrate (CHO) and metabolizable
harvested. Harvesting was done between the hours of
energy (Kcal/kg) was not statistically significant (P >
016 and 017 hours when the plants must have completed
0.05). Table 5 shows the proximate analysis of the
their light stage of photosynthetic process for the day.
finisher diet fed to the broilers.
The quantity of leaves needed was air dried at an
0
average room temperature of 27 C for seven days and
0
further oven dried to constant weight at 40 C for ten Performance Characteristics of Broiler Chicken Fed
hours and then milled with a hammer mill sieve of Cymbopogon citratus leaf Meals as Alternatives to
0.02mm diameter (Makanjuola, 1984), to obtain a fine Mycotoxin Binders
0
powdery dust stored at 4 C in the fridge until ready for
use. Table 6 shows the Feed intake (FI) values were
Table 1 shows the formulation of the broiler starter consistent with mean value of 4.98kg (4980g) at the end
mash for the experiment. of eight weeks (8wks). The treatment effects were not
Table 2 shows the formulation of broiler finisher diet of significant (P>0.05). All the birds have positive weight
the experiment. gain (g) which ranged from 392.0 for birds on treatment C
to 470 for those on treatment A (control diet). The
Collection of Data apparent variations were significant (P<0.05). Birds on D
0.01% recorded average weight of 437g compared to the
Data were collected to assess the performance of the control diet. In the same vein, as the aflatoxin
Ogbonna et al. 020

Table 1. Gross Composition of Broiler Starter Experimental diet

Ingredients Diet A Diet B Diet C 151 D1 151ppb D2 151ppb D3 151ppb

10.5ppb 151ppb ppb aflatoxin aflatoxin aflatoxin
aflatoxin Aflotoxin aflatoxin plus 0.01% plus 0.1% of plus 0.2% of
plus 0.01% of Cc Cc Cc
of Mb
Maize 55.00 55.00 55.00 55.00 55.00 55.00
GNC 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00
SBM 14.30 14.30 14.30 14.30 14.30 14.30
Fish meal (72%cp) 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00
Wheat offal 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00
Limestone 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
DCP 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00
PKC 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00
Salt 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
Methionine 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10
0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10
Premix 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100
CP 23.08 23.08 23.08 23.08 23.08 23.08
ME(kcal/kg 2960 2960 2960 2960 2960 2960
EE 4.41 4.41 4.41 4.41 4.41 4.41
CF 3.85 3.85 3.85 3.85 3.85 3.85

Table 2. Gross Composition (%) of Broiler Finisher Experimental diet

Ingredients Diet A Diet B Diet C D1 400ppb D2 400ppb D3 400ppb

12.00ppb 400ppb 400ppb aflatoxin aflatoxin aflatoxin
aflatoxin Aflotoxin aflatoxin plus 0.01% plus 0.1% of plus 0.2% of
plus 0.01% of Cc Cc Cc
of Mb
Maize 59.00 59.00 59.00 59.00 59.00 59.00
GNC 17.00 17.00 17.00 17.00 17.00 17.00
SBM 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00
Fish meal (72%cp) 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Wheat offal 5.30 5.30 5.30 5.30 5.30 5.30
Limestone 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50
DCP 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00
PKC 5.50 5.50 5.50 5.50 5.50 5.50
Common Salt 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
Methionine 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10
Lysine 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.10
Premix 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100
Crude protein 19.52 19.52 19.52 19.52 19.52 19.52
Metabolizable 2998 2998 2998 2998 2998 2998
energy (kcal/kg)
Ether extract 4.42 4.42 4.42 4.42 4.42 4.42
Crude Fibre 3.72 3.72 3.72 3.72 3.72 3.72

Table 3. Showing Proximate Composition of Cymbopogon citratus Leaf

Meals

Parameters Cymbopogon citratus

(%)
Crude protein 25.78
Ash 2.99
Ether extract 6.35
Crude fibre 4.95
Dry matter 93.60
NFE 53.53
 Int. J. Agric. Sci. Res. 021

Table 4. Proximate Composition of Starter Diet Containing Cymbopogon Citratus Leaf Meals as Alternatives to
Mycotoxin Binders.

Parameters A(0%) B C D1 0.01% D2 0.1% D3 0.2% SEM

Crude protein 23.23 22.80 22.68 22.73 22.88 23.23 0.67

Ash 5.95 6.01 5.95 6.07 5.99 5.97 0.17
Ether Extract 6.40 6.05 6.40 6.35 5.95 5.80 0.32
a a a a b a
Crude fibre 5.01 5.3 5.10 5.00 4.95 5.00 0.33
Dry matter 92.94 93.27 93.86 93.74 92.84 92.69 0.42
NFE 52.59 53.0 51.61 52.31 50.52 53.44 0.52
Gross energy Kcal/g 6.81 6.90 6.85 6.90 6.85 6.86 0.01

a, b, c : Means on the same row with the same superscript are not significantly different (p>0.05). NFE – Nitrogen free extract

Table 5. Proximate Composition of Finisher diet containing Cymbopogon citratus Leaf Meals as Alternatives to Mycotoxin Binders

Parameters A B C D1(0.01) D2(0.1) D2 (0.2) SEM

Crude protein 19.60 19.60 19.60 19.60 19.60 19.60 0.56
Ash 5.10 4.90 5.70 4.80 5.70 5.70 0.15
Ether extract 5.90 5.70 5.60 5.70 5.90 5.90 0.29
Crude fibre 4.80 4.80 4.80 4.79 4.79 4.78 0.25
Dry matter 92.40 92.50 92.30 91.60 91.50 91.50 0.30
NFE 55.50 50.50 56.52 52.00 55.30 53.60 0.25
Gross energy 7.80 7.90 7.85 7.90 7.85 7.86 0.01
a,b,c Means on the same row with the same superscript are not significantly different (p>0.05)
NFE, nitrogen free extract SEM=Standard Error of Mean

Table 6. Showing performance characteristics of broiler chicken fed Cymbopogon citratus leaf meal

Parameters A(0%) B C D1(0.01%) D2 (0.1%) D3(0.2%) SEM

Initial body weight (g) 51.20 51.20 51.20 51.20 51.20 51.20 0.84
a ab ab ab ab ab
Final weight gain (g) 2768 2609 2499 2599 2599 2519 0.24
a d e c b c
Average Weight gain (g) 470.00 410.00 392.00 442.00 437.00 427.00 0.90
Feed intake(g) 4980 4980 4980 4980 4980 4980 0.08
FCR 1.80 1.90 2.00 1.90 1.90 2.00 1.60
Survivability (%) 97.00 100.00 100.00 97.00 100.00 100.00 0.72
a,b,c means on the same row with the same superscripts are not significantly different (p>0.05) SEM=Standard Error of Mean

contaminated feed with Cymbopogon citratus increases levels of leaf meal.

the weight gains also declined appreciably (P<0.05). This
may be as a result of the presence of antinutritional Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chicken Fed
factors such as tannins, alkaloid, and flavonoids which Cymbopogon citratus Leaf Meal as Alternative to
are present in the leaf meal (Matasyoh et al., 2007 and Mycotoxin Binders
Ojimelukwe et al., 2012). The aflatoxin contaminated feed
with toxin binder (Treatment C) experience a decline in From Table 7, it was observed that Carcass
weight gain. (P<0.05) feed conversion ratio were not characteristics of the study showed a significant
significant (p>0.05) with toxic aflatoxin contaminated difference (p˂0.05) in live weight, ranging from 2820g in
meal (or toxic Aspergillus flavus meal).The trend of the the control diet and the lowest value of 2530g in diet C.
data suggested that the toxin binder was not as effective treatment B-D0.2 are not significant (p>0.05) .This
as Cymbopogon citratus leaf meal at 0.1% to 0.2% suggests that the leaf meals competed favourably with
Ogbonna et al. 022

Table 7. Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chicken Fed Cymbopogon citratus Leaf Meals as Alternatives to
Mycotoxin Binder

Parameters(g) A B C D1(0.01) D2(0.1) D3 0.2% SEM

a ab ab ab ab ab
Live weight 2820 2660 2550 2650 2650 2570 0.16
a ab ab ab ab ab
Bled weight 2720 2550 2450 2570 2570 2450 0.18
a ab b b ab b
Defeathered weight 2570 2450 2280 2310 2430 2310 0.18
a ab bc c abc bc
Eviscerated weight 2310 2270 2040 2010 2150 2020 0.18
b a b bc ab b
Dressed weight % 71.34 75.37 71.76 69.05 73.88 70.81 0.18
Neck% 3.07 3.13 2.87 2.51 3.39 2.72 1.43

Back % 18.68 17.79 18.74 18.74 20.50 18.41 3.31

Breast% 26.04 23.81 23.92 22.64 23.39 25.03 3.57
a ab ab ab ab b
Thigh % 13.00 11.78 12.29 11.45 11.95 11.67 2.82
a ab ab bc ab bc
Drum stick % 12.65 12.28 12.42 11.95 11.70 11.54 2.61
ab bc ab bc c c
Gizzard% 2.54 2.51 3.00 2.52 2.26 2.33 2.92
ab bc c d c c
Liver% 2.71 2.50 2.35 2.26 2.38 2.20 1.16
b ab a ab c c
Heart % 1.41 1.50 1.56 1.50 1.13 1.16 0.48

a,b,c means on the same row with the same superscripts are not significantly different (p>0.05) SEM=Standard Error of
Mean

the commercial Mycotoxin binder. There was a significant and Coras, 1985, Abdul-rahman et al., 2009). Heart
difference (P<0.05) in dressed weight, with Diet B having highest percentage was obtained from C, (1.58% ) while
the highest value of 75.37% compared with Diet A with the lowest, 1.13% was obtained from diet D0.1% which
71.34%. This agrees with Barden (1970) results with were significantly (p˂0.05) different
commercial broiler chickens, line 50x vantress cross,
which responded to the several fungus infected diets with CONCLUSION
no extreme adverse effects.
Galante, et. al. (1998) had a similar result when Cymbopogon citratus leaf meal is environmental friendly,
Trichoderma spp of fungi that produce lytic enzymes readily available with no residual effect on the meat of the
were introduced into livestock feed to partly hydrolyse or animal. It can be concluded that Cymbopogon citratus
digest plant cell wall in feed thus enhancing digestibility leave meal can be used to combat the effect of Mycotoxin
and increase the nutritive value of the feed. in animal feed at 0.2% instead of Mycotoxin binders
Breast weight was significant (p˂0.05) with the control without any adverse effect on internal organ, health,
diet having the highest percentage of 26.04 per cent carcass and performance of the broiler chicken
while diet D0.01% had 22.64% as the lowest value.
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