| dc.description.abstract | The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of seaweed supplementation to standard
broiler diets on production performance, carcass characteristics, mortality (%), antibody
level (ND titer) and cost effectiveness in commercial broiler. A total of 144, 20 day old
broilers (Cobb 500) were randomly assigned to four dietary treatment groups as T0, T1,
T2 and T3, each group consisted of 3 replications containing 12 birds in each replication.
Four dietary treatments were considered: T0 was control group fed with commercial
broiler diet, T1 fed diet supplemented with seaweed (Algaerich®, Altech) @1gm/ Kg
feed, T2 fed diet supplemented with Broiler Boost® (Eon) @ 1 gm/ 3 L drinking water
and T3 fed diet supplemented with Panamin® (Square) @ 1-2 ml / 1 L drinking water.
The results showed that total feed intake was non-significant (P>0.05) among the dietary
treatment groups. The present study revealed that seaweed had significant (P<0.01)
effect on final body weight, weight gain and feed conversion efficiency (FCR) in broiler.
The final body weight (g/bird) was found significantly (P<0.05) higher in T1 group
(1596.25±12.30) compared to other three experimental groups. The average daily weight
gain was observed significantly (P<0.05) higher at T1 (72.00±1.09) group among the
experimental groups. . The lowest and best FCR was observed in T1 group (1.46±0.01)
than other three groups. The GMT and CV% were significantly (P<0.05) differed among
the treatment groups. The present result indicates that the ND titer was lower with higher
variation in T0 (GMT, 6.75±0.03 and CV%, 22.6±0.58%), normal with normal variation
in T1 (GMT, 7.63±0.06 and CV%, 5.6±0.12%), normal with little higher in variation in
T2 (GMT, 7.38±0.05 and CV%, 18.6±0.58%) and normal with little higher in variation in
T3 (GMT, 7.70±0.06 and CV%, 20.6±0.57%).In RSPAT, it was found that salmonella
and mycoplasma load was lower in broilers of T1 group compared to others. So, the
immune status of the broilers of T1 group were normal than others but broilers of T0
groups were higher in risk. Dietary supplementation had no significant (P>0.05) effect
on defeathering percentage (%), liver weight (g) and heart weight (g) of broiler. But
thigh weight (g) and breast weight (g) differed significantly (P<0.05) among the
treatment groups where the highest thigh weight and breast weight were found in T1
group. Cost effective analysis revealed that the net profit (taka) per broiler was highest in
T1 group (64.52 Tk) and lowest in group T0 (51.02 Tk). So seaweed can be added as
natural feed additive to the poultry diet. | en_US |
