PERFORMANCE OF FINISHER BROILER CHICKENS FED DIETS CONTAINING BITTER MELON (MOMORDICA CHARANTIA) LEAF POWDER AS ALTERNATIVE PHYTOGENIC GROWTH PROMOTER

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the use of Momordica charantia leaf powder (MCL) as alternative to antibiotic growth promoter in finisher broiler diets. Three hundred finisher broilers with average weight of 971.67 – 987.67g were allotted to five diets in replicates of 3 containing 20 birds each in a completely randomized design. Diet 1 which was the negative control, contained no antibiotic nor MCL. Diet 2 (positive control) was supplemented with an antibiotic, Avilamycin® at 5g/kg feed while diets 3, 4 and 5 had 2, 4 and 6g/kg of MCL respectively. Feed and water were served ad libitum and the study lasted for 28 days. Results showed significant influence of MCL on all performance indices. Daily feed intake (110.15g versus 125.53g), daily weight gain (38.40g versus 43.26g) and total weight gain (1075.20g versus 1211.37g) were higher in birds fed diet supplemented with 2g/kg feed MCL than those on Avilamycin-based diet. It was therefore recommended that Momordica charantia leaf powder at 2g/kg feed can substitute antibiotic growth promoters in finisher broiler diets with better performance.