Abstract:
This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of dry onion, anise and yeast (y.mos) as growth promoter on performance of broiler chicks. A total, 120 one-day old (Ross) broiler chicks were used in this study. The broilers were distributed in a completely randomized design into four treatments groups having 3 replications with 10 chicks per replicate. Two basal diets (starter and finisher) were formulated according to the nutrient requirements outlined by NRC (1994).The treatment groups were control (basal diet) without supplement (T1), basal diet + 0.1% dry onion (T2) , basal diet + 0.1% anise (T3) and basal diet + 0.1% yeast(y.mos) (T4). The experiment was extended for 42 days. The following parameters were evaluated: feed intake, weight gain, feed conversation ratio, body weight, internal organs (liver, spleen, pancreas, heart( , abdominal fat and dressed carcass weight. The statistical analysis indicated that birds fed dry onion supplemented diet had significantly (P<0.01) higher feed intake. Weight gain, final body weight.Spleen and proventriculus weight.followed by those fed anise, Y.mos finally the control group. On the other hand, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and mortality were not affected. Supplementing dry onion, anise and Y.mos were not affected heart and gizzard weight. On the other hand, liver weight was increased when supplementing anise in the broiler basal diets. compared to Y.mos , onion and the control. However, abdominal fat weight was significantly (P<0.01) higher when the birds fed dry onion supplemented diet followed by those fed Y.mos, anise and the control treatment respectively.
The microbiological results revealed that none of the samples of the intestinal content was positive for Salmonella spp. for all treatment groups. While all were positive for E.coli. Lactobacillus colonies were detected when Y.mos and Anise were supplemented, the opposite was true when supplementing dry onion and the control treatment.
In conclusion, addition of dry onion, y.mos and anise in broiler diets was validated to have beneficial effects on most of the observed parameters compared to the control group, especially in onion fed broilers, hence it could be concluded that these feed additives can work as alternative growth promoters for antibiotics in broiler production.
