EFFECT OF DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION OF GINGER, GARLIC AND GINGER PLUS GARLIC ON THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILER STARTER CHICKENS

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of ginger, garlic and their mixture on performance of broiler chicks at starter phase. 120, 7-days-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to four diets replicated thrice with 12 chicksper replicate. Four experimental diets were formulated. The control diet (D1) contained neither ginger nor garlic, while diets D2, and D3 contained 1% ginger and 1% garlic respectively. Diet D4 contained a mixture of 1% ginger and 1% garlic. The parameters measured in a 28days feeding experiment include: feed intake (FI), weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and feed cost (N)/kg. FI of birds on diets D1, D2, D3 and D4 differ significantly (P<0.05). Birds on garlic diet (D3) had significantly (P<0.05) the highest FI compared to those on control and other diets. The weight gain (g/bird) of birds across the dietary treatments differ significantly (P<0.05). Superior (P<0.05) weight gain was observed with birds on ginger diet compared to control, D3 and D4 diets. FCR for bird on control, D2 and D3 diets were similar (P>0.05) but significantly lower compared to D4 diet. The feed cost (N)/kg for birds on ginger supplemented diet was significantly (P<0.05) lower than that for birds on D3 and D4 diets. It is concluded from the study that supplementation of ginger at 1% in the ration of broiler starter, gave the best performance in terms of weight gain and can serve as a potential substitute for antibiotic growth promoters in the rations of broiler starters.