Hawassa University, College of Agriculture, P. O. Box 05, Hawassa, Ethiopia; Dilla University, Faculty of Agriculture and Rural Development, P. O. Box 419, Dilla, Ethiopia
Melesse, A., Hawassa University, College of Agriculture, P. O. Box 05, Hawassa, Ethiopia; Tiruneh, W., Dilla University, Faculty of Agriculture and Rural Development, P. O. Box 419, Dilla, Ethiopia; Negesse, T., Hawassa University, College of Agriculture, P. O. Box 05, Hawassa, Ethiopia
The effects of Moringa stenopetala leaf meal (MSLM) on nutrient intake and weight gain (WG) were evaluated. Forty unsexed Rhode Island Red chicks were randomly assigned to 4 treatment groups. The control diet (T1) (MSLM 0%), the experimental diets contained MSML at a rate of 2% (T2), 4% (T3), and 6% (T4) of the diets (as fed basis) to replace 3%, 5.9% and 8.8% of the crude protein (CP) of the control diet. Daily feed, dry matter and CP intake of the chicks fed MSLM diets were higher (p<0.05) than those fed the control diet. Average weight gain (AWG) of birds fed MSLM diets were higher (p<0.05) than those fed the control diet. Chicks fed T4 showed higher (p<0.05) AWG than those on T2 and T3. Feed efficiency ratio (FER, g gain/g feed intake) and protein efficiency ratio (PER, g gain/g CP intake) were higher for chicks fed MSLM. MSLM elicited no deleterious effects in the birds. The results indicated that MSLM is a potential plant protein supplement and could be included to 6% in the diet of grower chicks to substitute expensive conventional protein sources.