Growth performance, meat yields and economics of broiler chickens fed diets containing selected feed additives

The present study was conducted on growth performance, meat yields and economics of broiler chickens fed diets containing feed additives. For this study 210 day-old broiler chicks were procured from the hatchery. The broiler chicks were randomly divided into seven groups of 30 chicks each viz, 1) control, 2) control + cocktail enzymes, 3) control + prebiotic, 4) control + probiotic, 5) control + organic acid 6) control + antioxidant and 7) control + saponin and inulin. Each group was further divided into two replicates of 15 birds each. Diets were formulated were formulated according to NRC (1994) recommendations. Variables measured consisted of BW gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, mortality, carcass weight and yield. The performance parameters revealed that the significant (P<0.05)differences in average feed consumption among various groups supplemented with different feed additives but the average gain in weights, feed conversion ratio of birds were similar. Moreover, economic improvementin performance traits was observed in broilers fed the cocktail enzyme followed by probiotic and prebiotic compared with control birds. This indicates thatthe supplementation of multiple / cocktail enzyme selection was best among other treatments, can be used as a growth promoter in broilerdiets and can improve the gut health. These feed additivesshow promising effects as alternatives for antibiotics in broiler chicken.