Effect of feeding different levels of herbal vitamin E on performance of broiler chicks in hot arid zone of Rajasthan

One hundred thirty five (135) unsexed day-old, commercial broiler chicks were weighed individually and uniformly distributed into three groups (T1, T2 and T3). Each group was divided into three replicates with 15 chicks in each. The chicks were fed with starter mash which contained crude protein 23% and metabolizable energy 2905 kcal/kg up to three weeks of age and from 4 to 6 weeks of age the chicks were fed with finisher mash which contained crude protein 20% and metabolizable energy 3120 Kcal/kg according to BIS. Group T1 (control group) was fed standard broiler mash. In group T2 herbal vitamin E was added @ 50 g/ton of feed and group T3 herbal vitamin E was added @ 100 g/ton of feed. Growth and feed consumption of broilers in experimental group i.e. T2 (basal diet+herbal vitamin E @ 50 g/ton) and feed conversion ration of T3 (basal diet+ herbal vitamin E @ 100g/ton) was better than that recorded on control diet. It could be concluded that the supplementation to herbal vitamin E @50g/ton improved the performance of heat stressed broilers.