Indian Journal of Poultry Science

Study was conducted on 100, newly hatched broiler chicks divided randomly into five groups for a period of six weeks to determine the efficacy of dietary mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS) and citric acid supplementation on the growth performance and nutrient utilization. The chicks were assigned different treatments viz., group T₁ control (without supplementation), T₂ (0.1% mannan- oligosaccharides), T₃ (0.2% citric acid), T₄ (0.05% MOS with 0.1% citric acid) and T₅ (0.1% MOS with 0.2% citric acid), with two replications in each group consisting of ten broiler chicks. The birds were fed two phase diets viz., 0–21 and 21–42 days and feed intake, feed conversion ratio, average body weight and average body weight gain and performance index were studied. A metabolism trial was conducted during the 6^th week of feeding trial to study the nutrient utilization. Performance in terms of feed conversion ratio, average body weight and gain, performance index were improved significantly in mannan-oligosaccharides and citric acid supplemented groups with maximum weight observed in T₄ and T₅ groups. The feed intake was not affected by either the levels of dietary mannan- oligosaccharides and citric acid supplementation while nutrient utilization in terms of dry matter, crude protein and ether extract were improved significantly in mannan-oligosaccharides and citric acid supplemented groups. It can be concluded that combination of 0.1%

MOS and 0.2% citric acid supplementation improved the growth performance and nutrients utilization in broilers.