Effects of Sodium Butyrate and Rosemary Leaf Meal on General Performance, Carcass Traits, Organ Sizes and Nutrient Digestibility of Broiler Chickens

The effect of sodium butyrate, rosemary meal and oxytetracycline supplementation on growth performance, carcass characteristics, visceral organs sizes and nutrient digestibility of broilers was investigated. A total of 320 one-day-old male "Arbor acres strain" broiler chicks were allotted to 10 dietary - treatments with 4 replicates of 8 birds each. The treatments include: T1: basal diet (BD; negative control), T2: BD + 1 g/kg diet of oxytetracycline (positive control), T3: BD + 2 g sodium butyrate (SB)/kg diet, T4: BD +4 g SB/kg diet, T5: BD + 2.5 g rosemary meal (RM)/kg diet, T6: BD + 5.0 g RM/kg diet, T7: BD + 2 g SB + 2.5 g RM/kg diet, T8: BD + 2 g SB + 5.0 g RM/kg diet, T9: BD + 4 g SB + 2.5 g RM/kg diet and T10: BD + 4 g SB + 5.0 g RM/kg diet. Birds fed T3, T4, and T5 had the highest (P<0.05) body weight with an improved feed conversion ratio. The dressed weight, breast weight and drumstick/thigh weight were better (P<0.05) for birds fed T3, T4 and T5. The weights of gizzard, liver and lungs were higher for birds fed T3, while, the length of small and large intestine were lower for birds fed T3, T4, and T5. The digestibility of the crude fiber, crude protein, crude fat and dry matter were higher (P<0.05) for birds fed T3, T4, and T5. It was concluded that, T3, T4, and T5 can be safely included for an improved performance; cut yields and nutrient digestibility. They also accelerated the development of health promoting (heart, kidney, and liver) and immune related (spleen) organs.