Response of Broiler Chicks to Diets Supplemented with Garlic Essential Oil as Natural Growth Promoter

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding broiler chicks on diets supplemented with graded levels of garlic essential oil as natural growth promoter. Experimental parameters covered growth performance, carcass dressing percentage, subjective meat quality and economical appraisal. The experimental design used was the complete randomized design (CRD). One hundred and forty, 7 day-old, unsexed Ross 308 strain of broiler chicks were randomly divided into five experimental groups (A, B, C, D and E) with four replicates, each of seven chicks. Group A fed on basal diet without feed additives group B was fed on basal diet supplemented with antibiotic (Neomycin, 20gm/kg) the other groups C, D and E were fed basal diets supplemented with garlic essential oil at levels of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 respectively. The basal diet was formulated to meet the nutrients requirements of broiler chicks according to (NRC, 1994). Experimental diets were fed for 6 weeks. The results indicated that there were no significant (p> 0.05) differences among all treatment groups in the values of body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, carcass dressing percentages and subjective meat quality attributes. No mortality was recorded throughout the experimental period. The economical evaluation showed that all levels of dietary garlic essential oils were economically feasible, although, the value of profitability ratio (1.27) of group E (0.3% garlic oil) was the highest of the tested groups.