The present experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of different herbal preparations on the performance of broilers. For this, 250-day-old male broiler chicks were randomly divided into 5 treatment groups with 10 replicates of 5 birds each. The experimental design consisted of T1: control diet, T2: Herbal powder I, T3: Herbal powder II, T4: Herbal powder III, T5: vit E and Se. The results indicated that T4 and T5 had significantly higher body weight gain compared to other treatments at 42 d of age. However, among other test diets, cumulative body weight gain was comparable with vit E and Se. Feed intake was not influenced by different herbal supplementation, but significantly better feed conversion ratio was noticed in all the test diets. Lipid peroxidation, alkaline phosphatase, blood urea nitrogen, cholesterol, blood glucose levels and E. coli counts in small intestine were significantly low in treatment groups compared to control and at par with vit E and Se. All herbal preparations did not have any significant effect on various carcass parameters, total protein, albumin and HI antibody titer. From the results, it could be concluded that poly herbal preparations improved the overall performance of broilers.
A biological trial was undertaken to study the effect of inclusion of graded levels of commercial guar meal (CGM) in diet on the performance and nutrient digestibility in commercial broiler chickens. A total of 350 oneday- old broiler male chicks (Cobb 400) were reared on wire floor electrically heated battery brooders. The chicks were randomly divided into 7 groups. Each treatment had 10 replicates of 5 chicks each. All the groups received iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric diets. First group was fed maize-SBM; 2nd, 3rd and 4th groups were fed control diet during pre-starter phase (1–14 days), later (starter and finisher phase) CGM was incorporated at 6, 12 and 18% respectively, replacing SBM. In rest 3 groups (5th, 6th and 7th), CGM was incorporated at 6% during pre-starter phase followed by (starter and finisher phase) incorporation of CGM at 6, 12 and 18% respectively. The results showed that body weight gain (BWG) was significantly better at 6% CGM inclusion and depressed at 12 and 18% CGM. There was no significant effect of non-inclusion of CGM in juvenile phase on BWG; though feed intake did not differ significantly by CGM inclusion but FCR was significantly higher at all inclusion levels of CGM (6, 12 and 18%). The slaughter parameters, nutrient digestibility, serum parameters did not differ significantly. It can be concluded that CGM could be incorporated up to 6% (60 g/kg diet) in broiler diets without affecting growth performance, nutrient utilization and slaughter variables.
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