Effect of supplementation of different levels of phytogenic mixture on growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens

This experiment was performed to investigate the impact of dietary supplementation of phytogenic mixture on feed intake, growth, feed efficiency and carcass characteristics of Vencobb 400 broiler chickens. A total of 48 day-old broiler chicks were divided randomly into 3 comparable treatment groups consisting 16 chicks in each group with 4 replicates in each treatment. The control group T1 was fed basal diet which was devoid of any phytogenic supplementation while T2 and T3 were supplemented with phytogenic mixture that contained garlic (A. sativum), tulsi (O. sanctum) leaves and black cumin (N. sativa) seed powder in equal ratio @ 0.25% and 0.50% in the broiler diets, respectively. Results of the study revealed that there was significant (p<0.05) improvement in the final live body weight, weekly body weight gain (p<0.05) and feed efficiency (FCR and FCE) (p<0.05) of the broilers in the treatment groups T2 and T3 supplemented with phytogenic mixture as compared to that of control group T1 while T2 and T3 groups did not differ significantly (p>0.05). However, feed intake and the carcass characteristics, i.e., dressing% and (relative weight of head, neck, breast, thighs, drumsticks, wings, heart, liver, gizzard, pancreas, intestinal weight and spleen with respect to live body weight of broiler) did not differ significantly (p>0.05) in the phytogenic supplemented groups T2 and T3 as compared to control T1. Nonetheless, the abdominal fat percentage was found to be significantly (p<0.05) reduced in the phytogenic supplemented groups when compared with control. It was concluded from this experiment that phytogenic supplementation with combinations of garlic (A. sativum), tulsi (O. sanctum) leaves and black cumin (N. sativa) seed powder (1:1:1 ratio) @ 0.25% of the broilers diet significantly improved the growth performance and reduced the abdominal fat percentage without negatively affecting the carcass characteristics of the broiler chicken.