An evaluation of water hyacinth {Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms-Laubach}meal as a feedstuff for pullet chicks as determined by carcass and haematological characteristics

Abstract

A total of 300 day-old pullet chicks of Isa Brown strain were fed diets containing 0, 5, 10 and 15 % dietary inclusion levels of water hyacinth meal (WHM) to form Diets 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Each diet was fed to 75 birds, consisting of 3 replicates of 25 birds per replicate, for 8 weeks. At the end of the 8th week of the experiment, two birds per replicate were randomly selected for blood collection. Blood samples were collected from the jugular veins of the birds into test tubes treated with and without EDTA anti-coagulant to obtain whole blood and serum, which were used for the determination of haematological and biochemical parameters respectively. Also, at the end of the 8th week, two birds per replicate were fasted for 12 hours, weighed and slaughtered by manual exsanguination. They were then dressed and their carcass characteristics determined. There were no significant (p>0.05) differences in live weight, slaughter weight, defeathered weight, eviscerated weight, dressed weight, meat in carcass, bone in carcass and meat to bone ratio among the control and the WHM diets. Also, there were no significant (p>0.05) differences in the weight of the head, forelimb, hindlimb, drumstick, neck, breast, back, heart, liver, crop, gizzard and lung but significant (p<0.05) differences existed in the weight of the thigh, kidney, intestine and spleen among the dietary treatments. There were no significant (p>0.05) differences in haemoglobin concentration (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), white blood cell concentration (WBC), red blood cell concentration (RBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) among the dietary treatments. Of all the biochemical parameters determined only globulin (Glo) and total protein (TP) showed significant (p<0.05) differences across the dietary treatments. Hence, it can be concluded that WHM can be included up to 15 % in the diets of pullet chicks (replacing 75 % wheat offal) without any detrimental effects on their carcass characteristics and haematological profile.