Influence of dietary supplementation of medicinal plant extracts on growth performance, economics and carcass yield of broiler chickens

This study was conducted to evaluate the comparative efficacy of three medicinal plant extracts including, Tinospora cordifolia (TCE), Azadirachta indica (AIE) and Andrographis paniculata (APE) on the growth performance, economic, carcass yield and biochemical profile of broilers. Day old Vencobb chicks (n=150) were randomly divided into 15 experimental units of 10 chicks and randomly allotted to 5 treatments 3 replicates each. The chicks were fed control diet (T1) and standard growth promoter; BMD @

0.05% in feed (T2), TCE @ 0.4g/L (T3), AIE; 0.4 g/L (T4)) and APE @ 0.4g/L (T5) in drinking water daily for consecutive 42 days. Maximum gain in weight was observed in T5 (2.150kg) followed by T3, (2.025 kg) and T4 (1.241 kg). The cumulative FCR at 42 days of age was better in T5 (1.60) followed by T3 (1.78) and T4 (2.07). The maximum profit per bird was obtained in T5 followed by T3 as compared to control. Higher serum protein, globulin and phosphorus were recorded in the birds supplemented with TCE (T3) and APE (T5). While, in the group T4 birds the level of ALT, uric acid and creatinine was maximum. It was concluded that supplementation of medicinal plant extracts especially Andrographis paniculata and Tinospora cordifolia can be used in the poultry diets for better production performance, carcass yield and blood biochemical profile in broiler chicken.