Comparison of Small Intestinal Mucosa of Broiler Chicken Fed With Centrosema (Centrosema pubescens L.) Leaf Meal

A total of one hundred and twenty (120) day old chicks were carried out in a Completely Randomized Design to compare the intestinal villi height, villi width and crypt depth of broiler chicken fed with centrosema ( C. pubescens) leaf meal at dietary levels of 0, 2, 4 and 6% respectively. The results showed that broiler’s duodenal villi height was longest for broilers without leaf meal (T1) 1738.69 µm and the shortest for the broilers supplemented with 6 % C. pubescens leaf meal (T4) 883.10 µm. Duodenum villi width in broilers Treatment 4 had the longer and wider intestinal segments than those broilers in T2. Crypth depth of T2 were not significantly deeper (838.55 µm) over those broilers in Treatment 3 and 4 and the control group (T1). Jejunal villi height of the broilers supplemented with 2 % C. pubescens leaf meal had the longest villi height in T2 (1195.79 µm) and the shortest was measured on T4 (912.05 µm). Treatment 3 broilers had wider jejuna villous over those broilers in Treatments 4, 2 and 1 respectively. The jejunal crypt depth were deepest on T2 (362.45 µm) and the shallowest was recorded on T4 broilers with 255.82 µm. T1 the control group had the tallest ileum villi height over those broiler treated or supplemented with C. pubescens leaf meal. Broilers in T3 had wider ileum villous with 109.46 µm while narrower villi width was observed in T2 broilers with 66.86 µm. Treatment 3 were the deepest ileum crypth depth with 362.40 µm and the shallowest was measured on (T4) (259.23 µm). The inclusion of the different levels of centrosema leaf meal (CLM) did not influenced the growth performance of broiler, however the supplementation of centrosema leaf meal (CLM) on the diet tend to increased body weight of the broiler chicken with the highest rates at T3. The effect of dietary supplementation on the intestinal villi of broilers did not show any variation in terms of the villi height, villi width and crypt depth and results were in congruence with the result of growth rate, feed conversion efficiency and feed conversion ratio. The dietary supplementation of C. pubescens in broiler chicken rations can be add as protein supplement in broilers diet although not significantly different with the use of commercial feeds, addition of CLM in the ration can be advantageous in minimizing production cost. It is recommended to conduct further studies using higher levels C. pubescens and also the use of colored broiler chickens.