EFFECT OF MEDICINAL PLANTS (NEEM AND MORINGA) ON THE EGG LAYING PERFORMANCE AND MICROBIAL LOADS IN JAPANESE QUAIL

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine the comparative efficacy of Neem (Azadirachta indica) and Moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaf powder on the productive performance, health status and microbial population of faeces and egg of commercial layer Japanese quail. A total of 160 Japanese quails of 27 day-old were reared in Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Farm, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Quails were divided randomly into 5 experimental groups each contained 4 replications and each replication contained 8 quails. These groups were allotted to five treatment designated as T 1 , T 2

Groups. T 1 was offered basal feed without any supplementation and served as a control. Whereas, group T 2 , T 3 , T 4 and T 5 were offered basal feed supplemented with Antibiotic, Neem + moringa – 1.2%, Neem + moringa – 1.0% and Neem + moringa – 0.75% respectively. T 1 (control) showed the highest live weight (182.38 ± 5.16g) at 15 week of age. But the results showed that the weekly egg production by number and weight and % HDEP were maximum in T 5 (Neem + moringa – 0.75%) at the end of 15 week of age (6.78 ± 3.01, 11.58 ± 0.07 a g/egg and 91.58 ± 2.92, respectively) compared control as well as other treatments. But highest feed consumption was found in T 2

(Antibiotic) which was (241.95 ± 5.92 a g/bird) weekly. Again, T 5 (Neem + moringa – 0.75%) showed the best FCR (2.52 ± 0.03 d at 15 th week of age) whereas T 4 (Neem + moringa – 1.0%) gave highest FCR (3.925 a ±0.388) at 10 th week of age which was not acceptable. Similarly, T 4 (Neem + moringa – 1.0%) showed highest survivability (100%) whereas the least (94.00 b ±3.50) was from T 2 (Antibiotic). T 5 (Neem + moringa – 0.75%) showed the maximum number of egg (6.78 ± 3.01 per week) along with the maximum egg weight (11.58 ± 0.07 a g/egg) at the 15 th week of age. So it could be said that neem and moringa leaf extract at 0.75% with water can improve the production performance. T 3 (Neem + moringa – 1.2%) showed the lowest (4.15 ± 0.41 ) Salmonella sp. population on faecal sample whereas treatment T 5 (0.25% neem + 0.25% moringa– 0.75%) showed the highest (8.22 ± 0.32 ab ) Salmonella sp. population contains. In conclusion, it can be said that Neem + moringa – 0.75% can positively affect the production performance of Japanese laying quail but not significantly affect the microbial population in faeces. , T 3 , T 4 and T 5 th th c