The response of broiler chickens to two different phytogenic feed additives as potential natural growth promoters

Abstract

Globally, the poultry industry has been facing increasing pressure to produce improved quality, healthy and safe meat and egg. This has kindled research interest in using natural feed additives. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of broiler chickens to two different phytogenic feed additives, namely, African black pepper (Piper guineense) and Negro pepper (Xylopia aethiopica) as potential natural growth promoters. Two hundred and ten Cobb 500 broiler chicks were randomly allotted to seven treatments with three replicates of ten birds each. Treatment 1 was the control diet without Xylopia aethiopica and Piper guineense. Treatments 2, 3 and 4 were diets supplemented with 4g, 8g and 12g of Piper guineense each per 1kg of feed, respectively, while treatments 5, 6 and 7 were diets formulated with 4g, 8g and 12g of Xylopia aethiopica per 1kg of feed. The study lasted for seven weeks. The phytochemical screening of Piper guineense showed moderately present (++) phenols and trace amounts (+) of flavonoids. Xylopia aethiopica, had flavonoids in high concentration (+++), whereas phenols, alkaloids, tannins and oxalate were moderately present (++). Notably, both spices had no cyanide. The dietary supplementation with phytogenic feed additives significantly improved weight gain, final live weight and feed conversion ratio. Treatment 7 produced the best result, closely followed by Treatment 5. Remarkably, birds fed diets containing the phytogenic additives responded positively with a significant (p<0.05) enhancement in growth performance. These spices can be utilized as potent phytogenic growth promoters in broiler production.