Supplementation of Broilers Diet with Different Sources of Growth Promoters

A study was conducted at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IAAS), Rampur, Chitwan from 29 August to 17 October, 2007 to compare the effects of antibiotic (chlortetracycline) and probiotic (Lactobacillus acidophilus) with three herbal growth promoters, Amala (Emblica officinalis),(EO), Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), (OC) and Aswogandha (Withania somnifera),(WS) on growth performance, feed consumption, feed conversion efficiency, carcass characteristics, and economics of broiler production. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with day-old broiler chick (192) randomly assigned to eight groups containing 8 chick in each and replicated three times. The control group received the maize-soybean based basal diet. In the treatment groups, the basal diet was supplemented with one of the following: antibiotic, probiotics, Tulsi, Amala, and Aswogandha and also in combination of herbs, forming eight treatments respectively. Results showed significantly better production in herbs. Significantly higher digestibility of all the nutrients (P<0.05) was observed in Amala+Tulsi+Aswogandha (T8) supplemented group. Highest body weight (1.440kg) was recorded in birds fed diet supplemented with Amala and Tulsi, and the lowest body weight (1.317kg) was seen in antibiotics (T2) fed birds. The highest income over expenditure (Rs.26.36) was recorded in birds fed diet supplemented with Tulsi (T6), although the difference was not significant among the treatments. Looking at the benefit cost ratio, highest B/C ratio was found in birds supplied with Tulsi (1.19) supplemented diet and minimum (1.12) was recorded in Amala supplied diet. Hence, this experiment showed that herbs as growth promoters can replace antibiotics in the diet of broiler chicken. However, it needs multilocational trials before recommendation for adoption by poultry growers.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njst.v12i0.6478 Nepal Journal of Science and Technology 12 (2011) 41-50