Abstract:
Four experiments were conducted to evaluat the response of broiler chicks to diet containing various levels of dietary natural herbs powder which are Garlic (Allium Satavium), Ginger (Zangiber Officinal), spearmints (Meanthe Spicatat) and Hot red pepper (Capsicium Fruitcences) as natural growth promoters.
Experiment parameters covered growth performance; slaughter, carcass value, serum metabolite, enzyme activities, electrolytes and economical appraisal. The experimental design used was complete randomize block design. A total of 200, five days old 93 gm initial weight, un sexed Cobb broiler chicks were used in each experiment. Chicks were divided into five groups of 40 birds in each and randomly assigned to five treatment diets, each treatment has four replicates. The first group A, fed on basal diet as Negative control diet,(NC) without antibiotic or natural growth promoter, the second group B, fed diet with antibiotic (Neomycin 16 mg /kg) as positive control (PC), the other groups of chicks C, D, and E were fed basal diet with one of tested herbs, in each experiment at different levels of (1%, 2%and 3%) for garlic (0.25%, 0.5% and 0.75%) for ginger (1, 1.5% and 2%) for spearmint and (0.5%, 1% and 1.5%) for hot red pepper.
The basal diet was formulated to meet the nutrients requirements of broilers according to NRC, (1994). Experimental diets were fed 6 weeks.
The results showed that the addition of all tested herbs at different level improved significantly (P> 0.05) in the body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio compared with NC, while no significant difference were observed among all treatment groups in terms of feed intake. No mortalities were recorded throughout the experimental period.
