The Effect of Feeding Stinging Nettle (Urtica Simensis S.) Leaf Meal on Feed Intake, Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Hubbard Broiler Chickens

Abstract

The effect of dietary inclusion of stinging nettle leaf meal(SNLM) on growth and carcass parameters of growing Hubbard broiler chickens was investigated. The leaves were collected from KofoleWoreda and dried under shade to produce the leaf meal. Five iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric grower diets, T1 (the control), T2, T3, T4 and T5 were formulated to contain 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12% of SNLM, respectively as a substitution for roasted soybean meal of T1. After 2 weeks of brooding period, 200 unsexed Hubbard chicks were weighed and randomly allocated to the dietary treatments with four replicates of 10 chickens each .At the beginning of the experiment, 10 chicks were selected and killed and put in plastic bags and kept in a deep freezer at -20oC until they were processed for whole body chemical analysis.