Effect of curry (Murraya koenigii) leaf powder supplementation on performance of broilers chickens

A study was conducted to observe the effect of supplementation of curry leaves on growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens. A 35 days feeding trial was conducted under standard feeding and managemental conditions with broiler pre starter (0–14 days), starter (15–21 days) and finisher (22–35 days) ration on 240, day old Vencobb broiler chicks randomly divided into 4 treatment groups (T₁-T₄) with six replicates of 10 chicks each. Dietary treatments were basal diet as control group (T₁) and three groups with basal diet mixed with curry leaf powder @ 0.5 % in feed (T₂), @ 1% in feed (T₃) and @ 1.5 % in feed (T₄), respectively. Two broilers from each replicate were sacrificed at the end of trial to estimate the different carcass parameters. Feed consumption was unaffected from different dietary treatments. Average body weight and body weight gain (g/bird) were highest for T₃ group and lowest for control group at 5^th week. Overall FCR was significantly lower in all curry leaf powder supplemented groups than control group. Overall Performance index and Protein efficiency ratio were highest in T₃ group. Carcass characteristics were unaffected from different dietary treatments. It can be concluded that supplementation of curry leaf powder can be promoted as a non-antibiotic growth promoter in broiler industry for production of safe meat without using antibiotics in effective way.