EFFECT OF ULTRA-DIETARY VITAMIN AD AND E ON CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF FINISHER BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

Effect of ultra-dietary vitamin AD (iu) and E (mg) supplementation on physical and chemical characteristics of broiler meat was assessed using 72 unsexed four-week-old broilers randomly assigned to eight experimental diets. Diet 1 was the control without any vitamin supplementation while diets 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 were supplemented with 200E + 1000D3; 4000A, 200E + 2000D3; 8000A, 200E + 3000D3; 12000A, 1000D3; 4000A, 2000D3; 8000A, 3000D3; 12000A and 200E, respectively. The diets were fed to 72 finisher Arbor Acres plus broilers for 10 days after which the birds (3 birds per replicate) were slaughtered and dissected. Carcass performance traits, primal cuts, external offal, organ weights and meat quality characteristics were significantly improved (p˂0.05) for birds fed vitamin AD and E supplemented feed. Sensory evaluation for birds fed supplemented diets were statistically similar (p˃0.05) to the control. It implies that supplementation of broiler feed with vitamin AD and E may improve carcass characteristics and meat quality of broilers. However, further experiments with longer period should be conducted to confirm the optimum period of supplementation.