Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology

A study was conducted to evaluate cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) powder as a phytobiotic alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in broilers. A total of 210 one-day old broiler chicks (IBL 80) were randomly distributed to five treatments each with three replicates of 14 birds. The dietary treatments comprised of feeding a basal diet as a control (CON), or the basal diet supplemented with either 0.1g oxytetracycline per kg diet as negative control (OXT), or cinnamon powder at low (0.5%; CPL), medium (1.0%; CPM) and high (1.5%; CPH) levels. 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, two birds per replicate were sacrificed to determine the carcass characteristics and sensory evaluation of meat. Supplementation of cinnamon at all the three levels improved (P<0.05) the BW gain in the broilers during starter and overall period, which was statistically comparable to CON and OXT groups. The best FCR was observed in CPH group followed by CPM and CPL groups during the finisher and overall period which was better (P<0.05) than the CON and OXT groups. Dietary treatments did not influence the carcass characteristics significantly. Supplementation of cinnamon powder at all the levels studied improved (P<0.05) the sensory attributes of the meat as compared to CON group meat. Highest (P<0.05) benefit: cost ratio was found in OXT and CPL groups, and it was lowest in CPM and CPH groups. From the result of present study it could be suggested that dietary inclusion of 0.5% cinnamon powder can be used as phytobiotic alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in broilers.