Studies on the effect of biocholine supplementation in commercial broilers

Four hundred and fifty day-old straight-run Cobb broiler chicks with body weights ranging from 40.5 to 42.2 g were randomly distributed into six groups, each group having three replicates. Each replicate contains twenty-five chicks. The dietary treatments were: T1 - control (CT) prepared as per IS 1347/92 specifications, T₂ -CT + choline chloride (60%) @ 1 kg/ton of ration, T₃ -CT + biocholine @ 0.5 kg/ton of ration, T₄ -CT + palm oil @ 25kg/ton of ration (FT), T₅ -FT + choline chloride (60%) @ 1.5 kg/ton of ration and T₆ - FT + biocholine @ 0.75 kg/ton of ration. Starter ration was fed ad libitum up to 4th week and finisher ration during 5th and 6th week of age. The body weights of broilers at 6th week of age were significantly higher (P<0.05) in T6 compared to all other groups supplemented with or without fat or choline chloride. Better feed conversion efficiency was noticed in T₆ compared to other treatments. The cost of production per kilogram live weight was lowest in T₆ (Rs.30.86) and highest in the T₁ (Rs.36.82). The serum concentration of SGOT, SGPT, ALP, cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and liver lipid contents were significantly lower (P<0.05) in T₆ compared to T₄ supplemented with oil and similar to other treatments. Where as, there was no change in serum triglyceride concentration among the treatments. The abdominal fat yield and liver weight were significantly higher in T₄ compared to other treatments. The other carcass characteristics, viz., dressing yield, eviscerated yield, giblet yield, neck yield, wings yield, breast yield, back yield, thighs yield and drumsticks yield were not affected by dietary treatments. The histopathological study of liver revealed acute cell swelling, focal infiltration of inflammatory cells and disorganization of hepatic cords in T₄, whereas, no change was observed in other treatments. It was concluded that supplementation of biocholine to commercial broiler diet with high fat increased the performance of commercial broiler birds.