Effects of dietary supplementation of ascorbic acid on performance and carcass traits of broiler chicken in cold desert region of India

The effects of dietary ascorbic acid (AA) supplementation on growth performance and carcass traits were studied in broiler chicken at high altitude in a 42 days period. Day old birds (n=120) were equally divided into four treatment groups and supplemented with 0 (C), 100 (T₁), 200 (T₂) and 400 (T₃) mg AA/kg diet. The study was carried out in Leh-Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir. Growth performance was measured in terms of live weight gain, cumulative feed intake and feed conversion ratio at the end of 21st and 42nd day of the experiment. The results were encouraging when the chickens were fed at 200 mg and 400 mg AA/kg (T₂ and T₃) diet. Body weight gain (g/bird/day), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and mortality (%) were similar among the different treatment groups. After 6 weeks, the carcass characteristics of broiler chicken were studied and statistical analysis showed significant (P<0.05) differences in percentage of eviscerated, breast, thigh and drumstick weight in T₃ group (400 mg AA/kg diet) compared to control and other two AA treated groups (T₁ and T₂). The result indicates that higher dose of AA supplementation (400 mg AA/kg diet) with basal diet is an effective way of improving the performance and carcass traits in broiler chicken at high altitude cold desert region.