African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (16), pp. 1963-1965, 20 August 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Short Communication

Preliminary investigation of the effect of Rhizophora racemosa (mangrove) feed additive on broiler performance

S. N. Wekhe¹, K. O. Ogbamgba² and C.C. OBOH¹

¹Department of Animal Science, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu – Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

²Rivers Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu – Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: yeabuan@yahoo.com.

Accepted 27 April, 2007

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of consumption of Rhizophora racemosa (Mangrove) incorporated feed on feed intake, body weight gain, and some visceral organs of broiler chicks. Sixty day-old Hubbard broiler chicks were randomly allocated into four treatment groups, A, B, C and D of 15 birds per group and 5 birds per replicate. The dosages of the groups were 0 (control), 10, 20 and 30 g per kilogram of feed, respectively. Results obtained showed that there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) among the treatment means with respect to feed consumption/efficiency, and body weight gain. However, a lineal body weight gain was observed. There was obvious hypertrophy of the bursa of Fabricus of groups B, C, and D, indicative of defensive reaction to R. racemosa (foreign body) and increase of antibody production. The observed atrophy of the ovaries and the converse hypertrophy of the testes are analogous to decreased ovarian and increased testicular functions, respectively.

Key words: Mangrove, feed intake, weight gain, visceral organs, broilers.