PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF FINISHER BROILERS TO YAM PEEL MEAL: HAEMATOLOGY AND SERUM BIOCHEMISTRY.

This study was designed to determine the physiological responses of finisher broilers to yam peel meal (YPM) based diets. Two treatment groups of 45 broilers each were assigned to either 10% (CD10) or 20% (CD20) YPM diets for 28 days. Another treatment group of 45 broilers was allotted the control diet (CD0) for the same period. Leukocyte count of the birds fed CD0 diet differed significantly (p<0.05) with the groups fed CD10 and CD20 diets. Serum sodium and phosphate values of broilers fed CDO diet were significantly (p<0.05) higher than those of the groups fed CD10 and CD20 diets while serum urea of the CD0 birds was significantly (p<0.05) lower than those of CD10 and CD20 birds. Serum ALP of birds fed CD0, CD10 and CD20 diets significantly (p<0.05) differed from each other. Serum ALT of birds fed control diet was significantly (p<0.05) different from the groups fed 10% YPM. Serum cholesterol value of the control birds was significantly (p<0.05) lower when compared with group on 10% YPM based diets. These results showed that incorporation of yam peel meal up to 20% improved some of the blood parameters measured.