Response of Broiler Chicks fed on Dietary Garlic Essential Oil as Natural Growth Promoter Alternative to Antibiotics

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of broiler chicks fed on graded levels of garlic essential oil as natural growth promoter alternative to antibiotic. Experimental parameters covered growth performance, carcass dressing percentage, subjective meat quality and economical appraisal. The experimental design used was the complete randomized design (CRD). A total number of (140), 7 day-old, 100gm initial weight unsexed Ross 308 strain of broiler chicks were randomly divided into five experimental groups with four replicates, each of seven chicks. The first group A fed on basal diet without feed additives (negative control), the second group B were fed on basal diet with antibiotic (Neomycin, 20gm/kg) as positive control diet, the other groups C, D and E were fed basal diets supplemented with garlic essential oil at levels of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 respectively. The basal diet was formulated to meet the nutrients requirements of broiler chicks according to (NRC, 1994). Experimental diets were fed for 6 weeks. The results indicated that there were no significant (p> 0.05) differences among all treatment groups in the values of body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, carcass dressing percentages and subjective meat quality attributes. No mortality were recorded throughout the experimental period. The economical evaluation showed that all levels of dietary garlic essential oils were economically feasible, but the values of profitability ratio (1.27) of group E (0.3% garlic oil) was the highest of the tested groups.