EFFECTS OF DIETARY BANANA PEEL MEAL SUPPLEMENTATION ON HEMATOLOGICAL TRAITS, IMMUNE ORGAN DEVELOPMENT, SERUM BIOCHEMISTRY, AND INTESTINAL MORPHOLOGY OF BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

With the high cost of traditional feed ingredients, and the potential for problems with using antibiotics in the feed, functional feed resources are becoming more important in poultry production. The present study aimed to assess the effect of dietary banana peel meal (BPM) supplementation on haematological indices, humoral immune response, relative immune-organ weights, serum biochemical parameters and morphology of intestine in broiler chickens. The 240 one-day-old broiler chicks were randomly distributed to four dietary treatments of 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% BPM with six replicates of 10 chicks each and fed and raised under the standard broiler rearing conditions for 7 weeks. Blood, immune organs, and intestinal tissues were collected at the end of the experimental period for laboratory analyses. There were no significant difference between the dietary treatments for levels of white blood cells, red blood cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit, or levels of antibody to Newcastle disease virus, avian influenza H9 virus or infectious bronchitis virus (P > 0.05). The relative weight of the bursa of Fabricius, thymus and spleen showed significant effect (P<0.05) with the 20% BPM group having the highest values. These variables, which were all lipid or liver enzymes, showed significant reductions with increases in BPM inclusion (P < 0.05). The villus height, villus width and crypt depth increased with increasing BPM inclusion while intestinal pH decreased with BPM inclusion (P < 0.05). Overall, BPM inclusion influenced immune-organ weights, as well as serum biochemical parameters and the morphology of the intestine but did not have a negative impact on the other measured hematological or humoral immune responses. Results indicated that BPM can be used as a suitable sustainable functional feed ingredient for broiler chickens. Further investigation should be conducted to assess growth performance, nutrient digestibility, gut microbiota, long-term health effects and viability for commercial production.