EFFECTS OF BLACK TEA POWDER OF AN ALTERNATIVE OF AN ANTIBIOTIC ON PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND BLOOD PROFILE OF BROILER

Abstract

This study was conducted to effect of black tea as an alternative source of antibiotic in broiler diet. Experiment was conducted for a period of 35 days with a number of 100 day old cob-500 broiler chicks. Chicks were divided into five dietary treatment groups with 4 replications, each having 5 birds per replication. The dietary treatment groups were; control (basal diet), black tea 0.5% (basal diet + 0.5% BT), black tea 1% (basal diet +1% BT), black tea 2% (basal diet +2% BT) and antibiotic 0.1 gm/kg (basal diet +0.1gm/kg). Results observed that body weight gain were increased significantly (P<0.05) in the black tea and antibiotic group compared to the control group. Lower (P<0.05) feed intake and better (P<0.05) FCR were also observed in the black tea supplemented group than control group. Supplementation of antibiotic and black tea decreased (P<0.05) total cholesterol level while black tea increased (P<0.05) HDL in broiler, compared to the control group. Weight of different organs like heart, liver was not altered in the treatment groups but carcass weight, breast and thigh muscle were increased in weight than control group. The focal point is the presence of residues of antibiotics in animal-derived foodstuffs with regard to human health. The poultry production must reduce and refine the use of antibiotics in avian production and replace black tea as the antibiotics with alternative substances.