Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology

The present study was carried out with an objective to investigate the production performance and carcass traits of broilers fed with different organic acid combination supplemented diets. Basal pre-starter, starter and finisher broiler diets were formulated as per the nutrient requirements (ICAR, 2013). Six experimental diets, viz. T₁ (Basal diet), T₂ (Basal diet+antibiotic @ 50 g/100 kg), T₃ (Basal diet+20: 40: 40 combination of citric, formic and propionic acids @ 1.5 g/100g), T₄ (Basal diet+30: 40: 30 combination of citric, formic and propionic acids @ 1.0 g/100g), T₅ (Basal diet+ 30: 30: 40 combination of citric, formic and propionic acids @ 1.0 g/100g), T₆ (Basal diet+10: 45: 45 combination of citric, formic and propionic acids @ 1.5 g/100g) were prepared. Two hundred and seventy day old, straight run commercial broiler chicks were distributed randomly to six treatments with three replicates of fifteen birds each and fed with the experimental diets from 0 to 42 days of age. Body weight gains and feed efficiency were significantly (P<0.05) improved during all phases of the experiment. Feed intake in organic acid supplemented groups (T₃ to T₆) was significantly (P<0.05) reduced during the pre-starter and starter phases. Organic acid supplementation revealed no significant (P>0.05) difference in the ready-to-cookyields among the groups, but significantly (P<0.05) increased giblet yields on % live weight basis. The organic acid combination of citric, formic and propionic at 20: 40: 40 combination could be safely incorporated at 1.5% level in broiler diets for better performance.