EFFECT OF DIETARY INCLUSION OF ORGANIC ALTERNATIVES TO ANTIBIOTIC GROWTH PROMOTERS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF FUNAAB ALPHA CHICKENS

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effect of garlic, synbiotic, organic acidifier as alternative to synthetic antibiotics on growth performance of pullet strain of FUNAAB alpha chickens. A total of 150 pullet strain of FUNAAB alpha chicks were divided into 5 treatments, each treatment comprising of 30 birds sub-grouped into 3 replicates of 10 chicks each in a Completely Randomized Design. Birds on the Control Treatment (T0) were fed chicks mash diets without any test ingredients. Treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 birds were fed chicks mash with Garlic (3g per 1kg), Synbiotic (2g per 1kg of feed), Organic acidifier (3g per 2kg of feed) and synthetic antibiotics (0.5g per 1kg of feed) respectively. The data obtained were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. The result revealed that garlic, synbiotic, organic acidifier and synthetic antibiotics inclusion had no significant (P>0.05) effect on feed intake, feed conversion ratio and mortality. Test ingredients however, had significant (P<0.05) effect on final weight and weight gain. It was concluded that organic acidifier and synbiotic gave the best weight gain comparable to synthetic antibiotics.