ABSTRACT:

A total of ninety-six (96) day-old broiler chicks were used to evaluate the growth performance and carcasscharacteristics of broiler chickens raised under the same environmental condition. The experiment wascarried out at the University of Abuja Teaching and Research Farm. The birds were divided into fourtreatments, three replicate per treatment in a completely randomize design (CRD). The experiment lasted for56days, the birds were fed on two basal diet (starter and finisher throughout the experimental period). Themoringa leaf extract was added to their water at 0.00 (T ), 20 (T ), 40 (T ) and 60ml (T ) per liter respectively. 1 2 3 4Data were collected on weekly growth performance and carcass characteristics were recorded. At the end ofthe experiment, the birds were slaughtered and eviscerated. The prime cuts and organs were weighed toestimate the different parameters. Data collected were analyzed for Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) usingSPSS. The results showed that there was no significant (P>0.05) difference in all the parameters examined(head, neck, wings, liver, breast, gizzard, drumstick, thigh, heart and shank) except back cut which wassignificantly (P<0.05) different across the treatments. However, the oral supplementation of moringa leafextract has no significant (P>0.05) effect on the weekly growth performance of broiler chickens except inweek four which was significantly (P>0.05) different. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence ofphenols (15.93 %), flavonoids (10.21 %), terpenloids (5.07 %), steroids (2.83 %), tannins (9.84 %), saponins(4.03 %), alkaloids (2.44 %) and oxalates (0.74 %) respectively. The study concluded that oralsupplementation of moringa leaf extract had no deleterious effect on the carcass characteristics and weeklygrowth performance of broiler chicks.