Growth response, hematological indices, organ and carcass characteristics of finisher broilers supplemented with blended African black pepper (Piper guineense)

This experiment was designed to investigate the effect of blended African Black pepper (ABP) seed on growth response, carcass characteristics and haematological performance of finishing broilers. Sixty day-old chicks of Cobb 500 strain were used for this study which lasted for four weeks. The day old chicks were procured from Ibadan Nigeria. The chicks on arrival were brooded for four weeks using normal starter feed. At four weeks the chicks were randomly assigned to three treatment diets with four replicates in a completely randomized design (CRD). African black pepper seed were purchased from Ogige market in Nsukka town. The finisher diets were supplemented with African black pepper at 0g/kg, 1g/kg and 2g/kg for T1, T2 and T3 respectively. Water and feed were given ad libitum to the birds. The result obtained showed that there were significant differences (p< 0.05) across the treatment means. In growth response, there were significant weight gain, improved feed conversion ratio and reduced feed cost per/kg weight gain in treatment groups as against the control group. In Organ and Carcass characteristics, there were significant (p<0.05) differences on the heart weight, shank weight and wing weight of the treatment groups while in haematological indices, all the parameters were not significant except in Packed Cell Volume (PCV). The value of 37.0 ± 0.58% obtained from T3 was significantly higher the value of 32.0 ±0.58 % recorded for T1. In conclusion, the results have revealed that blended ABP seed can be incorporate into the diets of broiler chickens at 1g/kg for improve growth response, feed conversion efficiency and lower feed cost per kg weight gain.