Effect of feeding of Boerhaavia diffusa on performance, nutrient utilization, carcass traits and economics in broiler production

The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of varying levels of Boerhaavia diffusa (punarnava) powder on performance, nutrient utilization, carcass traits and economics of broiler production. Seventy two (72) days old chicks were randomly distributed into four dietary treatments each having three replicates of six chicks. Out of four dietary treatments, treatment one (T_fl) acted as control, remaining three treatments were formulated by supplementing 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% punarnava powder respectively. Thus, T₂, T₃ and T₄ were supplemented with punarnava powder. Significantly (p<0.05) higher weight gain in broilers with T₃ diet was recorded. Use of higher levels of punarnava, increased feed intake significantly (p<0.05). The treatment means of FER indicated no significant (p>0.05) difference among different groups. Significantly (p<0.05) higher PI found in broilers assigned T₃ diet. Treatment means of nutrients retention indicated that maximum retention was noted with T₃ diet and T₄ diet. Significantly (P<0.05) higher carcass yield was noted in broilers assigned T, diet. The net return over feed cost/kg weight gain had reduced significantly with increase in supplementation of punarnava powder.