Effect of papaya leaf extract on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality and serum biochemistry of broiler chickens

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of supplementing papaya leaf extract (PLES) in drinking water on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality and serum biochemistry parameters of broiler chickens from 0 to 37 days of age in corn-soybean based diet. A total of 520 unsexed one-day-old Cobb-500 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to five treatment groups, with four replicates having twenty-six chicks in each group. Treatment groups were as follows: 0.00, 0.5, 1.00, 1.5 and 2.00 cc of PLES in 1000 ml of drinking water, respectively. The pre-starter, starter and grower diet were fed from 0 to 11, 12 to 26 and 27 to 37 days of age. Body weight, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and broiler production efficiency factor (BPEF) were measured for 37 days. Carcass, meat quality and serum biochemical parameters were also measured. The results of the present study showed that non-significantly greater body weight, weight gain and broiler production efficiency factor (BPEF) were observed in PLES groups than control. There was no significant difference in feed intake and feed conversion ratio of broiler chickens in the treatment groups. The relative proportion of dressing characteristics and meat quality in terms of drip loss, cooking loss of breast meat did not alter significantly between the treatments. However, total cholesterol in serum tended (P<0.10) to be reduced in the treated groups than control but other (albumin, total protein, high-density lipoprotein) were not influenced by the treatments. Taken together, our results indicate that papaya leaf extract in drinking water can be supplemented as phytobiotic additive to accelerate growth and improve health status of broiler chickens without any adverse effect.