Annual Research & Review in Biology

Aim: A study was conducted to investigate the effect of graded levels of choline on the growth performance, dressed carcass yield, internal organs and haematological parameters of broiler chickens.

Materials and Methods: A total of three hundred day old mixed sex broiler chicks were shared into five treatment groups of sixty birds each and twenty birds for each of the three replicates. Birds in (T₁) belonged to the control. Those in T2 had 500 mg/kg choline chloride supplementation of their feed, those in T3 had 1,000 mg/kg choline chloride supplementation, and birds in T4 had 1,500 mg/kg choline chloride supplementation, while those in T5 had 2,000 mg/kg choline chloride supplementation. Data collected were the growth parameters, dressed carcass, internal organs and haematology.

Results: There were significant differences (p<0.05) in the average final weight, average weight gain, daily weight gain, daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio with improvement as the choline supplementation increased from 500 to 2,000 mg/Kg of feed. The dressed carcass and internal organs showed no significant differences (p<0.05). For the haematology, the red blood cell (RBC) count, white blood cell (WBC) count, lymphocyte count, monocyte count and basophil count showed significant differences (p<0.05).

Conclusion: It was concluded that choline should be included at 2,000 mg/kg of broiler’s diet.