Department of Poultry Science, Bombay Veterinary College, Parel, Mumbai - 400 012, India.
The trial was conducted on 200 day-old broilers for period of five weeks to evaluate the comparative effect of different growth promoters on the performance of broilers. The day-old chicks were randomly divided into four equal groups viz. A, B, C and D, viz. control, diet supplemented with prebiotic (Ecomos) @ 500 g/ton, probiotic (Gutpro) @ 100 g/ton in prestarter and starter and @ 50 g/ton in finisher, and acidifier (Lupromix) @ 0.5 ml/lit. It was noticed that birds from group D recorded highest live weight as well as gain in weight followed by groups C and B. The birds from all treatment groups recorded marginally better live weight and gain in weight than control. The feed consumption of birds receiving probiotic and acidifier was significantly higher (P<0.05) than control. However, the difference in the feed consumption of birds receiving prebiotic was statistically nonsignificant when compared to control. The birds receiving different growth promoters recorded marginally better feed conversion ratio than control. The economics of broiler production indicated that supplementation of different growth promoters in broiler diets would be helpful to earn more profits. The results of metabolic trial indicated that birds from treatment groups recorded higher nitrogen retention as compared to control. The carcass evaluation studies revealed that the differences in the edible carcass yield, liver, heart, gizzard and abdominal fat pad weight percentages were statistically non-significant. Thus, it is concluded that supplementation of prebiotic, probiotic or acidifier is beneficial for improving production performance and profit from broilers.
Broiler, Poultry Nutrition, Feed Additives, Prebiotic, Probiotic, Acidifier.
