Growth Performance, Blood Biochemical Profile, Carcass Traits and Chemical Composition of Meat in Female Broiler as Affected by Feed Restriction and Garlic Supplementation

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of feed restriction and garlic supplementation on growth performance, blood biochemical profile, carcass traits and chemical composition of meat in female broilers. In this study, 120, day old female broilers were randomly distributed into 5 treatments each having 4 replicates with 6 birds in each replicate. Diets were formulated as per (ICAR, 2013) specifications and were fed in 3 phases i.e. starter phase, grower phase and finisher phase. Treatment T1 was served as control. The other treatments comprised: T2 = T1 with feed restriction (10-12 h) at 8-17 days of age (DOA) with garlic supplementation, T3 = T1 with feed restriction at 8-17 DOA (10-12 h) without garlic supplementation, T4 = T1 with feed restriction at 18-27 DOA (10-12 hrs) with garlic supplementation, T5 = T1 with feed restriction at 18-27 DOA (10-12 hrs) without garlic supplementation. Early feed restriction with or without garlic supplementation (T2and T3) reduces the average body weight gain and average feed intake as compared to control (T1) significantly (P<0.05) in starter phase. Garlic supplementation in early feed restriction (T2) had significantly (P<0.05) higher average body weight gain as compared to early feed restriction without garlic supplementation (T3) in starter phase. For overall period, early feed restriction without garlic supplementation (T3) had significantly (P<0.05) reduced average body weight gain as compared to control (T1). Late feed restriction without garlic supplementation (T5) significantly (P<0.05) reduced the average feed intake as compared to control (T1) and late feed restriction with garlic supplementation (T4) for overall period. Cholesterol levels were found to be significantly (P<0.05) lower in garlic supplemented as well as in early and late feed restricted groups. Abdominal fat content was also reduced due to feed restrictions. So, it was concluded that feed restrictions were used a tool to alter the chemical composition of meat in terms of cholesterol level and fat contents of muscles.