EFFECT OF KING OF BITTER (Andrographis paniculata) LEAF MEAL AND GARLIC (Allium sativum) MEAL AS ALTERNATIVE TO ANTIBIOTIC ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKEN

Abstract

A thirty-five day feeding trial was conducted to determine the effect of Andrographispaniculata leaf meal and Allium sativum meal on the growth performance of broiler chicken. One hundred and twenty (120) day old broiler chicks were randomly distributed into four (4) dietary treatments with three replicates each of ten (10) birds per replicate in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD). Four experimental diets were formulated as follows; T1: with inclusion of antibiotics (Oxytetracycline) 1.5g/3kg of feed, T2: basal feed + Allium sativum powder (ASP) at 50g/25kg of feed, T3: basal feed + Andrographispaniculataleaf meal (APLM) at 50g/25kg of feed, T4: basal feed + Andrographis paniculata + Allium sativum at 50g each/25kg of feed. Data were collected on growth performance at starter and finisher phase. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) observed on growth performance across the dietary treatments, except for feed conversion ratio(FCR) at starter phase. The birds fed T4 the lowest FCR of 1.96 compared to other treatments. At finisher, broiler chicken fed dietsupplemented with antibiotics had a significantly lower final body weight (g/bird) of 1669.33 compared to other treatments(1890.67, 1808.30,1803.77). Birds fed T2 and T3 had the lowest FCR when compared to broiler chicken fed diet supplemented with antibiotics.The study concludes that inclusion of Andrographis paniculata leaf powder (APLP) and Allium sativum powder (ASP) at 50g/25kg of feed had positive influence on final body weight gain and FCR of broiler and has high potential as alternative to antibiotics in broiler production.