Effect of feed restriction with or without garlic supplementation on growth performance, blood biochemical profile and carcass characteristics in male broilers

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of feed restriction with or without garlic supplementation in male broilers. About 120, day old male broilers were randomly distributed into 5 treatments each having 4 replicates with 6 birds in each replicate. Diets were formulated as per ICAR (2013) specifications and were fed in 3 phases. Early feed restrictions with or without garlic supplementation (T₂ and T₃) significantly (P<0.05) reduced the average body weight gain in starter phase. Significant (P<0.05) reduction in average body weight gain was observed in T₃ and T₅ in finisher phase. But, garlic supplementation in early feed restrictions as well as in late feed restrictions in finisher phase and overall period improved the average body weight gain. Feed restrictions with or without garlic supplementation (T₂ and T₃) significantly (P<0.05) reduced the average feed intake in starter, grower and finisher phase. But, garlic supplementation in late feed restriction (T₄) improved the average feed intake as compared to non-garlic supplemented group (T₅). Cholesterol levels were found to be significantly (P<0.05) lower in early and late feed restriction with garlic supplementation. Early feed restrictions with or without garlic supplementation (T₂ and T₃) significantly (P<0.05) reduced the abdominal fat. It was concluded that early feed restrictions reduced the average body weight gain as well as average feed intake in starter phase but garlic supplementation improved the average body weight gain and average feed intake and reduced the cholesterol levels as well as abdominal fat.