Effect of Ginger (Zingiber officinale), Garlic (Allium sativum) and Turmeric (Curcumin longa) on growth performance of broiler chickens
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of ginger, garlic and turmeric on performance of broiler chickens. One hundred- and twenty-day-old Rox-8 broiler chicks were randomly distributed into 4 experimental groups, each consisting of 3 replicates of 10 chicks per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Four experimental diets were formulated such that Diet 1 (Control) is without the medicinal plants, Diet 2 (ginger), Diet 3 (garlic) and Diet 4 (Tumeric) at 0.50g/ 100kg each. The experiment lasted for 14 weeks. Results revealed that supplementation of 0.50% ginger, garlic and turmeric to the basal diet of the broiler chickens did not significantly (P>0.05) enhance the body weights of the bird, although the feed intake was significantly different (P<0.05) among the treatment groups with D4 having the highest total feed intake (5021.33g), average feed intake (717.33g) and daily feed intake (102.48g). the result also showed a significant improvement (P<0.05) in the FCR of birds fed the medicinal plants, with D4 having the least FCR value of 2.33. In conclusion, 0.50% turmeric supplementation was found to be the best due to its ability to efficient utilization of feed.
Keywords: Performance, Garlic, Ginger, Turmeric, medicinal plants
