CRINA POULTRY PLUS AS REPLACEMENT FOR ANTIBIOTIC GROWTH PROMOTERS IN BROILER CHICKENS PRODUCTION

Abstract

A total 396 day old Ross broiler chicks were used in a feeding trial to evaluate the response of broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with different levels of CRINA® Poultry Plus, as replacement for antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs). The chicks were allotted randomly to six dietary treatments each replicated thrice, with 22 chicks per replicate. CRINA® Poultry Plus was included at 0g, 30g, 35g and 40g/100 Kg diet representing T1-T4 respectively while T5 and T6 had Oxytetracycline and water- grade Neocyril plus respectively. Diets were fed to chicks for 28 days. Data was collected on growth performance, liver function and bone quality indices. All data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and significant differences among treatment means were compared using the Dunnett test of significance. In the starter phase, broilers fed diet containing Oxytetracycline had significantly (P<0.05) highest values for final weight, weight gain, feed consumption, and better feed conversion ratio. No trend was observed for birds fed different levels of CRINA® Poultry Plus. Significant (P<0.05) differences were observed for albumin and blood urea nitrogen while ALT, ALP AST were not significantly (P > 0.05) different. Birds fed levels of CRINA® Poultry Plus had significantly higher bone dry matter (72.12-74.71 %) and bone ash (34.63-35.97 %) as compared to birds in the control group (70.64 % DM and 30.62% ash) and on antibiotics (71.28% DM and 31.32 % ash). CRINA® Poultry Plus did not improve growth in broiler chickens, but significantly lowered the cost of production at 35g/100 Kg feed than the control and AGPS. It also improved liver health and bone strength which is of major advantage to modern breeds of broiler chickens.