Performance and haematological indices of broiler chickens fed varied inclusion level of palm kernel cake

A total of one hundred and forty four (144) broiler chickens in a 42-day trial were used to evaluate the effect of graded levels of palm kernel cake on the performance and haematological characteristics of broilers. The broilers were randomly allotted to four treatments with 0%, 10%, 20% and 30 % PKC inclusion levels designated as treatments 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Each treatment had three (3) replicates with twelve (12) birds per replicate. Growth performance showed higher significant (P<0.05) values of 2073.68 g, 1874.39 g, 44.63 g and 101.49 g respectively for final weight, weight gain, daily weight gain and daily feed intake from birds fed 30 % PKC. Value ranges of 32.14 % to 34.67 % 10.36 g/dl to 11.37 g/dl, 3.17 to 3.49 x1012/l were obtained for packed cell volume, haemoglobin, and red blood cell in birds fed the control and 30 % PKC based diets respectively. This implied PKC has the potential to improved growth performance and haematology of boilers chicken. It was concluded that inclusion of PKC in the broiler’s diets significantly improved the performance and haematological parameters of the broiler chickens therefore should be included in the formulation of broilers diets for up to 30 %.