Evaluation of Alternatives to Antibiotic Feed Additives in Broiler Production

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of herbs as feed additive on performance of broiler alternative to antibiotics. One-day-old (N=320) broiler chicks were divided into eight treatment groups with four replicates of ten chicks. Six treatments were three herbs i.e. Allium sativum, Cassia angustifolia and Artemisia scoparia @0.5 and 1.0% respectively, control (basal diet), and a positive control (Oxyfeed (R) @2g/kg). In the study, the treatment groups, which were given diet supplemented with herb and antibiotic, exhibited improved weight gain, average daily gain, and feed conversion (P<0.05). No significant difference was observed in feed intake (P>0.05). The treatment groups supplemented with Allium sativum showed higher growth performance compared to Cassia angustifolia and Artemisia scoparia and control (P<0.05). Relative organ weights and relative carcass yield of treatment groups were not significantly different (P>0.05). The Relative length of the intestine of the treatment groups showed significant difference (P<0.05). Supplementation of herbal additives and antibiotic had a positive effect on bacterial enumeration of Ileum (P<0.05). The use of antibiotic caused a reduction in all three forms of microbial population. On the other hand, herbs added as feed additive acted as prebiotic and enhanced the lactic acid bacteria. In conclusion, supplementation of herbs as feed additive improved growth parameters and present results suggests herbs could be used as alternative to antibiotics growth promoting feed additives.