IMPACT OF NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE IN BROILER CHICKENS: A RESEARCH STUDY

Abstract

With increasing regulations on use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in the poultry industry, the industry has turned to evidence-based nutritional pathway solutions. The objective of this study was to compare the nutritional supplement categories such as probiotic, prebiotic, organic acid plus essential oil (OA + EO), exogenous multi-enzyme (EME) and chelated trace minerals (CTM) with a control group on growth performance, carcass traits, mortality, and economic returns of broiler chickens. Three hundred day-old Ross 308 broiler chicks were distributed in six dietary treatments (five replicate pens of 10 chicks each) in a Completely Randomized Design and raised for 42 days. All supplemented groups had significantly higher final body weight and lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) than the control group (p < .05), particularly the probiotic and enzyme-blend groups which showed the greatest improvements (FCR 1.58 and 1.60 vs. 1.72 and final body weight 2,612 g and 2,570 g vs. 2,420 g). The supplementation also resulted in increased dressing percentage, breast yield, and decreased abdominal fat and mortality. The highest benefit cost ratio (5.7:1) was observed with probiotic supplementation while the enzyme blend was closely followed (4.2:1). The results suggest that the use of probiotics and multi-enzyme blends is a cost-effective and antibiotic-free method for better broiler production.

Key Terms: broiler chickens, nutritional supplements, growth performance, feed conversion ratio, antibiotic alternatives, cost-benefit analysis.