Pumpkin leaf (Telferia occidentalis) and scent leaf (Ocimum grattisimum) meals as dietary additives on growth and egg production of laying chickens

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of Telferia occidentalis (fluted pumpkin leaf) and Ocimum gratissimum (scent leaf) meals as additives on growth and egg production of laying chickens. A total of 420 Isa-brown point-of-lay pullets were randomly allocated in a completely randomized design to seven dietary treatments (T₁ - T₇). T₁ served as the control diet with no inclusion of test ingredients namely; pumpkin leaf meal (PLM) and scent leaf meal (SLM). In other treatments or diets, PLM and SLM were included per 100kg feed as follows; T₂ 250g PLM, T₃ 250g SLM, T₄ 500g PLM, T₅ 500g SLM, T₆ 250gPLM+250gSLM, and T₇ 500gPLM+500g SLM. Data were collected on egg production in three phases (cycles) of egg laying. Phase one was marked as egg production period during which the birds were between 18 and 28 weeks old, phase two spanned from week 28 to 38 weeks old, while phase three covered the laying periods from 38 to 48 weeks old. Data on performance records; hen day egg production, feed intake, weight gain feed conversion ratio were pulled together and assessed.  In all the phases, only the daily live weight gain and feed conversion ratio of the birds were insignificantly affected (P>0.05). Daily weight gain was best in the control diet 59.41g/bird, FCR was best in T₅ (500g SLM) and the composite T₆ diet (250g PLM+250g SLM) with the value of 1.86 each. Vitamins A and D, Calcium (Ca) and Sodium (Na) of the eggs were generally significantly (P<0.05) higher in birds fed the supplemented diets.  At the first laying cycle, eggs of the layers on control diet had the highest (P<0.05) value of vitamin D (57.73 mg/100g), those from laying chicken fed T₃ had the highest Ca (58.91mg/100g), while those on T₂ had the highest K and Na (122.68 and 134.93 mg/100g respectively). At the second laying cycle, T₆ had the highest level of vitamin A (328.01 mg/100g). Eggs in T₃ had the highest level of vitamin D (55.56 mg/100g). At third laying cycle, the highest values of vitamins A, D and Ca were obtained in eggs from T₇ while the K content was significantly highest in eggs from T₃ (126.02 mg/100g) with those from T₂ having the highest (P<0.05) Na (136.12 mg/100g). Proximate composition of the eggs across treatments was significantly (P<0.05) affected by dietary treatments with the supplemented diets’ eggs being superior. In conclusion, these results suggest that Telferia occidentalis and Ocimum gratissimum can be used as natural alternatives to antibiotics to improve growth, egg production and nutrient composition of eggs.