Feed Intake Lab Report

The following performance parameters were measured during the feeding trial.
3.4.1 Feed Intake
Known quantities of feed was weighed in bags and labelled for each replicate at the beginning of the week. At the end of each week the left over in the feeders was weighed. This was used to obtain the feed intake per week per replicate. The value obtained was divided by seven to obtain the daily feed intake and divided by the number of birds in each replicate to obtain the daily feed intake per bird per day. FI = FWI- FL
(Where FI = Feed Intake, FWI= Feed weighed in, FL= Feed left over)
3.4.2 Body Weight
Hens were weighed at the start and end of the experimental period and the average hen weight was calculated to determine body weight gain (BW).

Colorimetric determination of total protein in serum is based on the biuret reaction. The serum protein reacts with copper sulphate in the presence of sodium hydroxide. The Rochelle salt (K-Na-tartarate) contained in the biuret reagent is utilized to keep the formed cupric hydroxide in solution which gives the blue colour. The absorbencies of the sample (A sample) and of the standard (A standard) were read against the reagent blank in the spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 545nm.
The total serum protein concentration (C) was calculated as follows:
C (mg/dl) = A sample × concentration of the standard A standard.
3.4.8.2 Albumin
Serum albumin was determined using Bromocresol Green (BCG) method (Peter et al 1982). Measurement of serum albumin is based on its quantitative binding to the indicator 5, 5-dicromo-o-cresolsulphonaphthaline (bromocresol green, BCG). Non-haemoloysed serum was mixed with a buffered BCG reagent and incubated at 20-25oC for 5minutes. The absorbance of the sample and that of the standard were measured against the reagent blank at a wavelength of 630nm and albumin was calculated as follows: g/l = Δ A sample / Δ A standard × standard concentration (6%) (Where A = absorbance).
3.4.8.3 Globulin Serum globulin was obtained by subtracting the albumin fraction from the total

Serum GOT activity was measured colorimetrically. Non-haemolytic serum was incubated with a buffered mixture of L- aspartate and α- oxoglutarate at 37oC for 12.6 minutes. The initial absorbance was recorded 1 minute after addition of the serum sample and at 1 minute interval thereafter for 3 minutes. The mean absorbance per minute (Δ A/minute) was recorded and used for the calculation of enzyme activity. The absorbance was read at U.V. wavelength 340nm and enzyme activity was calculated as follows: µ/l = ΔE× 3489 (Where E=