Effect of sun dried whole leaf Aloe vera powder on growth, carcass characteristics and meat quality of commercial broilers

A study was conducted to evaluate the sun dried whole leaf Aloe vera powder (WLAVP) as phytogenic alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in broilers. A total of one hundred day- old broiler chicks (IBL 80) were randomly distributed to five treatments with two replicates of each. The dietary treatments comprises of basal diet as control, antibiotic group receiving 0.1g/kg of oxytetracycline, 1.0,1.5 and 2.0% of WLAVP added to basal diet. Body weight and feed consumed were recorded weekly and accordingly feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio were calculated. At the end of 5^th week, 6 birds per treatment were sacrificed to determine the carcass characteristics and sensory quality of meat. Supplementation of WLAVP at three different level has no significant (P<0.05) effect on the weight gain and final body weight during overall study period. However, FCR was significantly (P<0.05) lower in 1.0 and 1.5% WLAVP supplemented groups than other treatments. Dietary treatment does not significantly influence the carcass parameters. Supplementation of WLAVP significantly (P<0.05) improved the overall acceptability of meat. It was concluded that use of WLAVP in feed formulation may prove a good alternate to AGP's for commercial scale of broiler production.