Hepatic Histology of Broiler Chicks fed Differently Processed Jatropha curcas Kernel Meals

Abstract

One hundred and eighty day-old Marshal strain unsexed broiler chicks were used determine the toxicological effect of feeding broiler chicks with differently processed (Raw Defatted Meal RDM, Toasted Defatted Meal TDM, Cooked Defatted Meal CDM, Lye Defatted Meal LDM and Sand Roasted Defatted Meal ZRDM) Jatropha curcas kernel meals in an experiment that lasted for 21 days. 6 dietary treatments (control inclusive) of 30 birds per treatment of 3 replicates of 10 birds each in a complete randomized design. Each differently processed Jatropha curcas kernel meals were used to replace one-third of the soybean meal in the control diet. The heat treatments reduced the antinutrients with minimal effect on the saponin and phorbol esters present in the Jatropha curcas kernel meal. Histological changes observed from the liver of the broiler chicks fed the diets ranges from mild to severe degeneration of the hepatocytes, an indication of substantial residual toxin in processed kernels. From this study, one-third of the raw and different processed Jatropha curcas kernel cake meal cannot quantitatively replace soybean meal since there were depressed mild to severe changes in the organs of broiler fed these diets, therefore futher biogradation of the test ingredients could be explored.