NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF BROILER CHICKENS FED DIETS CONTAINING THAUMATOCOCCUS DANIELLII LEAVES AND ROOT POWDER AS ADDITIVES

ABSTRACT This study was carried out to determine the nutrient digestibility of broiler chickens fed diets containing Thaumatococcus danielli leaf and root powder as additives. The Thaumatococcus danielli leaves(TDL) and roots were harvested freshly from the farm forest area and were thoroughly cleaned with brine solution oven dried miled into powder, The leaf and root powder were then added into formulated broiler starter and finisher diets such that the negative control diet (T1) contained no additives, the positive control (T2) contained commercial antibiotic growth promoter (Mancock) at the manufacturer’s recommended level, diets 3 and 4 (T3 and T4) contained 2g and 4g of Thaumatococcus danielli leaf powder (TDLP)/kg, respectively while diets 5 and 6 (T5 and T6) had 2g and 4g of Thaumatococcus danielli root powder (TDRP)/kg, respectively. A total of two hundred and forty day old chicks were obtained and assigned into the six dietary treatments, with four replicates each, consisting of ten birds/replicate on weight equalization basis. The birds were fed their respective diets adlibitum (4 weeks for each of starter and finisher phases). At the beginning of the last week of each phase, one bird was selected per repicate and moved into individual metabolic cage to determine apparent digestibiity of nutrients using the Boudillon et al. (1990) total collection method. Data collected were subjected to one way analysis using SPSS version 27. Result showed significant (p