EFFECT OF GINGER (Zingiber officinale) POWDER SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BROILER

Abstract

This experiment aimed to investigate the effect of ginger (Zingiber officinale) powder on the performance of commercial broiler chicken. In this study ninety six (96) Cobb500 day old chicks of the similar weight divided into 4 groups, each group consists of 3 replicates and containing 8 birds in erach replication and experiment period are 4 weeks. Treatment groups included T0= control, T1= 0.5g ginger powder per kg diet, T2 = 1g ginger powder per kg diet T3 =2g ginger powder per kg diet Average weight gain, feed consumption, feed efficiency, dressing yield and survivability were used as criteria of response to feeding ginger powder. Organs weight including heart, liver and gizzard were also recorded. The mean body weight per broiler was 1585.74, 1634.07, 1703.9 and 1840.27g in 28 days for the treatment of groups T0, T1, T2, and T3, respectively. The highest weight gain was found in T3(1840.27g) P<0.01). The highest body weight gain was found in T3 (1840.27g) compared to the control. The average feed consumption per broiler was 2886.33, 2680.5, 2781.93 and 2802.2 g (P<0.01) in 28 days for the groups of T0, T1, T2, and T3, respectively. The average feed efficiency (feed/gain) was 1.82, 1.64, 1.63 and 1.52 (P<0.01) in 28 days for group T0, T1, T2, and T3, respectively. The FCR was significant(P<0.01) lowest in T3 . The mean dressing yield was 56.16%, 59.63%, 58.89% and 60.42% (P<0.01) for the groups of T0, T1, T2, and T3, respectively. The average weight of abdominal fat was 2.51, 1.82, 1.67 and 1.58g (P<0.01) and heart was 8.28, 8.46, 9.30 and 9.41g (P<0.05). The average weight of liver was 41.1, 43.5, 42.2 and 46.5g (P>0.05) for the groups of T0, T1, T2, and T3, respectively. The mean gizzard weight was 38.57, 42.47, 45.77 and 46.5g (P>0.05) for the groups of T0, T1, T2, and T3, respectively. Survivability was 98.67%, 100%, 100% and 100% (P>0.05) for the groups of T0, T1, T2, and T3, respectively. It may be concluded that the use of ginger (Zingiber officinale) as feed additive 2gm ginger powder per kg diet enhances the overall performance of broiler chicks.