GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKS FED DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION OF DIFFERENT PHYTOGENIC BLENDS
Keywords:
broiler, curry leaf, lemon grass, orange peelAbstract
This study was aimed at evaluating the growth performance of broiler chickens on dietary supplementation of phytogenic feed additives. Dietary treatment consisted of 8 groups; treatment (T) T1= Negative control (without additives), T2= Positive control (with antibiotics), T3= Blend of 35% lemon peel meal+ 30.5% orange peel meal+ 22.5% Lemongrass meal + 12% curry leaf meal, T4 = Blend of 32.5% lemon peel meal+ 33% orange peel meal+ 23.5% of Lemongrass meal + 11%of
curry leaf meal, T5 = Blend of 30% lemon peel meal+ 35.5% orange peel meal+ 24.5% of Lemongrass meal + 10% curry leaf meal, T6= Blend of 27.5% lemon peel meal+ 38% orange peel meal+ 25.5% of Lemongrass meal + 9% of curry leaf meal, T7= Blend of 25% lemon peel meal+ 40.5% orange peel meal+ 26.5% of Lemongrass meal + 8% of curry leaf meal, T8= Blend of 22.5% lemon peel meal+ 43% orange peel meal+ 27.5% of Lemongrass meal + 7% of curry leaf meal. Three hundred and twenty day-old broiler chicks were randomly allotted to eight dietary treatments, each treatment had 4 replicates of 10 birds. The experiment lasted for four weeks. Data on growth performance was collected and subjected to one way analysis of variance in a completely randomised design and significant means were separated using Duncan’s multiple range test at a 5% level of probability. Only the feed conversion ratio was significantly (P<0.05) influenced by the dietary treatment at the starter phase. The study concluded that the dietary supplementation of phytogenic blends produced a similar final weight, weight gain, and daily weight gain as the control groups.