Bhattacharyya et al.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
gizzard, small intestine, large intestine & caeca) and
various slaughter traits viz. pre slaughter fasting shrinkage
Birds and experimental design
in live weight, dressing yield, eviscerated yield, ready
to cook yield, giblet yield (heart, liver & gizzard) as a
A total of seventy two, one week old, Cobb 400 broiler
percentage of live weight and yield of individual cut-up
chickens were distributed into two experimental groups
parts (thighs, drumsticks, breast, back, neck, wings) as a
having four replicates each with nine birds. The birds
percentage of eviscerated yield.
of the control group were fed a basal diet (22.5% CP &
2830 K cal/kg ME) while the other group was offered a
basal diet supplemented with a polyherbal liver tonic, AV/
Statistical analysis
SSL/12 in drinking water@ 4 ml/100 birds/ day during
Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance in
1-2 weeks, 8 ml/ 100 birds/ day during 2-4 weeks and 15
a completely randomized design (Snedecor and Cochran,
ml/100 birds/ day during 4-6 weeks of age.
1980). Significant differences among treatment means
were calculated as per Duncan’s multiple range test
Experimental procedure and analyses
(Duncan, 1955).
Weekly body weight and body weight gain was recorded
till 6 th week of age. After 6 weeks of age, general
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
immune response was studied by taking nine
birds
from each treatment group and measuring important
Growth performance
immunocompetence traits such as antibody response
The phytobiotic group birds had a significantly higher
(log 2 titer) to 1% sheep red blood cells (SRBC) (Siegel
(P<0.05) body weight compared to the control at 2nd
and Gross, 1980; Van der Zijpp, 1983), 2-mercaptoethanol
week of age (322.89 vs 289.44) (Table 1). Further, the
resistant antibodies (MER or IgG) and mercaptoethanol
weekly body weight of the birds in the phytobiotic fed
sensitive antibodies (MES or IgM) against SRBC (Martin
group was apparently higher compared to the control
et al ., 1989) and cell mediated immune (CMI) response
group throughout the experiment. The body weight gain
i.e. in vivo cutaneous basophilic hypersensitivity response
of the birds in the phytobiotic fed group was significantly
to lectin phytohaemagglutinin from Phaseolus vulgaris
higher (P<0.001) compared to the control group at 2 nd
(PHA-P) determined as foot web index (Corrier and
week of age (Table 2). Our present findings pertaining to
DeLoach, 1990). After forty two days of the experimental
the phytobiotic group in broiler feed are in agreement with
trial, six representative birds from each treatment group
the reports of Kutlu and Forbes (1993), Bhattacharyya et
was randomly selected and slaughtered to study the
al . (2013) who also reported improvement in body weight
gastrointestinal
tract
development
(proventriculus,
gain when various herbs were added to broiler feed.
Table 1. Effect of phytobiotic on the average weekly body weight (g) of commercial broilers during 1-6 week period
Treatment
1 st wk
2 nd wk
3 rd wk
4 th wk
5 th wk
6 th wk
Control
136.72
289.44 a
474.92
833.39
1067.25
1292.92
Phytobiotic
129.89
322.89 b
517.89
867.97
1091.50
1373.44
Pooled SEM
0.93
4.38
5.96
10.29
10.44
12.66
Significance level
NS
P<0.001
NS
NS
NS
NS
Means bearing different superscripts within a column differ significantly (P<0.05)
NS: Non significant (P>0.05) SEM: Standard error of means
348
Journal of Animal Research: v.5 n.2. June 2015