Effect of Guava (Psidium guajava) leaf meal on production performances and antimicrobial sensitivity in commercial broiler

The study was conducted at the poultry shed and poultry laboratory, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh in order to apply the possibility of treated guava (Psidium guajava) leaf meal in broiler diets to determine the effects of it’s at various levels of dietary treatment on production and quality characteristics of broiler. For this 180 day old broiler chicks (Cobb 500) were taken and divided into four treatments, each with three replications (15 birds/ replication) at the age of four or day and then offered manually prepared diets supplemented with 0%, 2.5%, 3.5%, 4.5% guava leaf meal after treating by means of some physical and chemical processes. The result showed that feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio at different dietary treatments were almost similar and the differences were statistically non-significant except fat content, mortality rate and antimicrobial sensitivity. Fat content and mortality rate were decreased with increased level of guava leaf meal up to 4.5% level. However, guava leaf extract had a significant effect on antibacterial activity basically higher against E. coli followed by Streptococcus sp. and Staphylococcus sp. and was significant at 5 % level of significance. Based on the results of present study it may be concluded that guava leaf is a good source of nutrients and it has a significant effect on fat content of broiler, mortality rate and antimicrobial sensitivity without affecting the bird’s feed intake, body weight and feed conversion ratio. The results of the study suggest that supplementation of guava leaf meal (Psidium guajava) up to 4.5% level in diets has high potential as commercial applications for production performance and antimicrobial sensitivity of broiler.

Keywords: Guava leaf; Broiler; Antimicrobial sensitivity.

Published in Journal of Natural Products, Vol. 6(2013):177-187.