GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKS ON ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF ALLIGATOR PEPPER SEED EXTRACT

Abstract

The impact of giving different dosage of Alligator pepper seed extract (EAPS) orally to broiler starter chicks in order to assess their growth performance was studied. The powdered dried alligator pepper seeds were soaked in ethanol at a weight-to-volume ratio of 1:2. The mixture was filtered, 20% of the filtrate was made and put to use in this study. In a completely randomized design (CRD), 120 1-dayold broiler chicks were divided into 4 (four) treatments, each consisting of three replicates, with ten chicks per replicate. The birds were examined on a 28-day feeding period. Treatment 1, the control group, was given 0.25 mL/litre of a conventional antibiotic (Enrovet) in their drinking water. Treatments 2, 3, and 4 were given thus; 10, 15, and 20 mL/litre of water (EAPS) in their drinking water, respectively. One way analysis of variance was used to analyzed the feed intake, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio data. The findings revealed that there were no significant (p>0.05) differences in any of the growth parameters measured; however, there was a progressive numerical increase in the chicks' final body weight and a corresponding decrease in their FCR as the dosage of the test herb was increased. T4 had the highest final weight, daily weight gain and least FCR value of 977.30 g, 40.82 g and 1.62 respectively. It was concluded that administration of EAPS had growth enhancing properties and can be used in starter broiler production.