ASSESSMENT OF GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF FINISHED BROILER CHICKENS FED SUPPLEMENTED GINGER MEAL AS A PHYTOBIOTIC FEED ADDITIVE.

A 28-day experiment was conducted to examine the effect of additive ginger meal (GM) as a phytobiotic in the diets of broiler chickens in terms of feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). 96 four-weeks-old broiler chickens were assigned randomly to four dietary treatments each replicated thrice (eight birds per replicate). Four experimental diets were formulated with the control (D1) without GM (0%). Bird's group on diets D2, D3 and D4 were fed with GM supplemented at 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% levels respectively. The FI of birds fed a 0.2% GM-supplemented diet was significantly higher (p<0.05) compared to birds fed 0, 0.1 and 0.3% GM-supplemented diets The BWG of birds fed a 0.2% GM-supplemented diet was significantly higher (p<0.05) compared to those on 0, 0.1 and 0.3% GM-supplemented diets. The BWG of birds fed 0.1 and 0.3% GMsupplemented diets were similar (p>0.05) but significantly lower (p<0.05) compared to control. The FCR of birds fed 0.2% GM-supplemented was statistically better (p<0.05) compared to those fed 0, 0.1 and 0.3% GM-supplemented diets. The FCR of birds fed 0.1% and 0.3% GM-supplemented diets were similar (p>0.05) but significantly (p<0.05) lower compared to the control diet. Feed cost (N) per kg gain increases with increased levels of GM supplementation in the diets. It is concluded that the feeding of broiler finisher chickens with GM supplemented at 0.2% improves performance and can be a viable alternative to antibiotic feed additives in the diets of broiler finisher chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]