Indian Journal of Poultry Science

The aim of this experiment was to reduce the antibiotic usage in broiler ration by incorporating the chicory root powder. The experiment was designed with 200-day-old commercial male broiler chicks and randomly divided into 5 groups with 8 replications of 5 birds each and reared in battery brooders up to 42 days of age. The experimental design consisted of; T1 basal diet (BD) without antibiotic, T2: BD + antibiotic (BMD at 500 g/ton), T3: BD + chicory root powder (0.5%), T4: BD + chicory root powder (1.0%), T5: BD + chicory root powder (1.5%). The results revealed that supplementation of 1.0% chicory root powder recorded significantly (P<0.05) higher body weight gain, feed intake and better feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to antibiotic, control, 0.5 and 1.5% chicory powder. Among all the treatments, significantly better energy retention was recorded in 0.5% chicory group. However, the energy retention in 1.0% and 1.5 % chicory root powder was comparable to the antibiotic group. Supplementation of 1.0% chicory powder significantly (P<0.05) improved the protein utilisation compared to other treatment groups. The dry matter digestibility was significantly (P<0.05) higher in all chicory supplemented groups at 42 d of age. Supplementation of chicory root powder did not influence the mortality and various carcass parameters of broiler chicken. Supplementation of 1.0% chicory powder obtained higher returns over feed cost than the antibiotic. As a result, 1.0% chicory root powder can be used as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoter for improving performance of broilers.