RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Forage plants are considered an essential source of vitamins, protein and energy and could decrease the intake of the conventional diets by up to 10% if young quality forage plants are offered and about 7% of a broiler's daily protein needs and 3% of their daily calorie needs can be met by pasture. However, there is a paucity of data on the quantification of the herbage intake in broiler chickens. OBJECTIVES: This trial was designed to determine the performance and physiological response of broilers fed diets containing Stylosanthes hamata leaf meal (SHLM) at 0%, 1%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% inclusion (weight for weight) in a basal diet of poultry. METHODS: Two hundred and forty-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chicks were used for this trial. They were allocated at random to each of the 6 dietary treatment groups with 4 replicates of 10 chickens each. The study lasted for 35 days, during which data were collected weekly. RESULTS: Results indicated no difference (p > 0.05) in body weight gain, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio of broiler chickens across all ages. Although the plasma triiodothyronine (T3 ) concentration of the birds was influenced at the sixth week of age, there was no consistency in the trend. At the eighth week of age, chickens on 15% SHLM had significantly (p < 0.05) higher cortisol (3.22 ng/mL) concentrations compared to 10% (3.13 ng/mL) and 20% (3.16 ng/mL) SHLM treatment groups. Treatment groups, regardless of the age of the chickens, had similar (p > 0.05) mean plasma creatinine values. CONCLUSIONS: The study concluded that SHLM could be incorporated into broiler feed up to 20% without a deleterious impact on physiology and performance indices.
