Influence of Ixora Coccinea Crude Extract on Carcass Characteristics, Organoleptic and Physical Properties of Broiler Chickens

In an experiment to determine the efficacy of an extract from the leave and root of Ixora coccinea plant on the organoleptic properties, physical properties and carcass characteristics of broiler chicken. Two hundred and seventy (270) day old Ross broiler chicken were in a complete randomized design using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Duncan multiple range test was used to differentiate the means. There were four (4) treatments each for root and leave extract and one antibiotic control treatment, each of the treatment having 3 replicates with 20birds per replicate. The root extract (R1, R2, R3 & R4) and leave extract (L1, L2, L3 & L4) were administered at the rate of 2ml, 4ml, 6ml and 8ml while the antibiotics was applied at 1g per litre of water. The experiment lasted for four (4) weeks. The result of organoleptic properties for colour, flavour, aroma, texture, juiciness and overall acceptability shows that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the control, 2ml, 4ml, and 6ml, except for 8ml with the lowest score across all the organoleptic parameters for both root and leave extract. In both the root and leave extract cooking loss was higher (p>0.05) in control compared to other treatment, thermal shortening and cooking yield were lower (p>0.05) in control compared to other while water holding capacity have no significant different (p<0.05) for both root and leave extract. There was significant different (p>0.05) in most of carcass characteristics except for internal organs, head, neck, shank and back which were not significant different (p<0.05) for root extract. The level of the crude extract of Ixora coccinea used in this study enhance the carcass characteristics, physical and organoleptic properties of broiler chicken, with best result achieved at 2ml, 4ml and 6ml respectively