How to cite this article: Nagar, M.K., Shende, K., Dhuria, R.K., Manzer, H. and Surendra. (2021). Effect of turmeric (Curcuma longa) powder and synbiotic as alternative to antibiotic growth promoter on the growth performance and mortality of broiler chicks. J. Anim. Res., 11(1): 167-172. Source of Support: None; Conflict of Interest: None
Today, poultry farming goes about as salary stabilizer as well as gives ordinary and convenient pay compared to the cultivation of crops and other domesticated animals. In poultry nutrition, feeding costs are considered the mostcostly element in the entire cycle of production. Feed is a significant segment that influences the net income of the poultry business in the light of the fact that 70% of absolute consumption is in terms of money spent on feed purchase (Willems et al., 2013). At the same time as making gains in production and efficiency, the industry needed to enhance the well-being and prosperity of birds and minimize the impact of the industry on the environment. The use of feed additives has been an important part of making progress in promoting growth, protecting well-being and optimizing the genetic potential of modern broiler and layer hybrid growth promoter feed additives used in poultry diets (Dhama et al., 2011; Youssef et al., 2013). There are different types of growth promoters used in the broiler industry such as antibiotics, probiotics, prebiotics, exogenous enzymes, antioxidants, coccidiostats, etc. (Dhama et al., 2011; Angelakis et al., 2013) and other novel growth promoters include herbs, panchgavya, elements and certain other nutritional substances (Mahima et al., 2012, 2013; Dhama et al., 2013).
The indiscriminate use of antibiotics as feed additives in poultry farms has increased public health wariness about the development of resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria (Abd El-Moneim et al., 2020; Abd El-Moneim and Sabic, 2019) and residual contamination of poultry products (Shewita and Taha, 2018; Alagawany et al., 2019a; Soomro et al., 2019). Banning antibiotic growth promoters from the markets of the European Union and many other countries has challenged poultry producers to find appropriate alternative option to AGP (Abdelnour et al., 2019; Alagawany et al., 2019b).
Turmeric rhizome (Curcuma longa) is a perpetual rhizomatous plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae is a widely used spice, food preservative and coloring material that has biological actions and medicinal uses (Akbarian et al., 2012) has a positive effect on the performance of broilers and a lowering effect on blood serum cholesterol, triglycerides (Hussein, 2013). Beneficial effects of bioactive plant substances in animal nutrition may include appetite stimulation and feed intake, improvement of endogenous digestive enzyme secretion, activation of immune responses, and antibacterial, antiviral and antioxidant action (Hosseini-Vashan et al., 2012). Curcumin is the main important bioactive ingredient responsible for biological activity of curcuma longa (Nouzarian et al., 2011) when compared to commercially available antibiotics, turmeric is a safe, non-toxic and ideal food additive widely used in daily diet.
Animals needs to maintain specific numbers of beneficial microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract to ensure that the animal has the proper microbial balance at all times (Abd El-Hack et al., 2018; Alagawany et al., 2018; Arif et al., 2019). Therefore, adding the probiotics to the bird’s diet improves their utilization (Alagawany et al., 2016; Farghly et al., 2018; Taha et al., 2019) because probiotics can neutralize and stabilize the gut ecosystem, compete for the enteric pathogens for nutrients and intestinal attachment sites, inhibit pathogenic adhesion, inhibit epithelial invasion, prevent common intestinal clinical signs, promote the metabolic processes of digestion and absorption of nutrients and supply the birds with several substrates that enhance their immune response. Numerous bifidobacteria and Bacillus strains have been used as alternatives for chemotherapeutic agents in poultry, animals, and humans (Dankowiakowska et al., 2013; Kantas et al., 2015). On the other hand, prebiotics are indigestible food additives which help the host by selectively promoting the production and activity of live microbials in the host’s gut and thus improving their health and longevity. The combination of prebiotics and probiotics in poultry nutrition giving energy and net health benefits to the host is referred to as synbiotic. This combined effect could enhance the survival and persistence of the healthpromoting organism in the intestine of birds and could be used as an option for AGP due to its availability as a specific fermentation substrate and the synergistic action of both probiotics and prebiotics (Adil and Magray 2012; Aziz Mousavi et al., 2015). Consequently, the required combination of the two components in a single product would ensure a superior impact compared to the probiotic or prebiotic action alone. Keeping the aforementioned realities in view, the present study was planned to describe the effect of turmeric powder and synbiotic as alternative to antibiotic growth promoter on the growth performance and mortality broiler chicks.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred and fifty day-old, unsexed, apparently healthy broiler chicks procured from commercial hatchery were divided into 5 treatments and each treatment of 30 chicks was subdivided into three replicates having 10 chicks each.
The broiler chicks were vaccinated for Ranikhet Disease (F1 strain) on 7th day and Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) on 14th day. Broilers were maintained under standard management practices regarding brooding, feeding and watering throughout the trial period. The fresh and dry wheat straw was used as bedding material. Ad lib., access to water and feed was arranged for all the treatments. Commercially available ready-made broiler starter and broiler finisher feed were procured and feed additives such as antibiotic, turmeric (Curcuma longa) and synbiotic were supplemented. The experimental feed will be analyzed for proximate principles by procedure of AOAC (2016). The five dietary treatments were designated as T1 control group (basal diet), T2 supplemented with antibiotic @ 0.02% level, T3 supplemented with turmeric @ 0.5% level, T4 supplemented with synbiotic @ 0.05% level and T5 supplemented with turmeric @ 0.25% + synbiotic @ 0.025% in the diet. The experimental birds were randomly assigned to diets and fed ad-libitum. During the experimental period the growth parameters such as body weight, body weight gain, average daily weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversation ratio, performance index and protein efficiency ratio of birds were evaluated. The chicks were weighed separately at the beginning of the experiment and then at weekly intervals for 6 weeks in the morning before feeding. Live weight gain at weekly interval was calculated from difference in body weight attained between the two consecutive weeks and average daily body weight gain was estimated by dividing the total body weight gain by number of days. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated as the total feed consumption divided by weight gain in each replication. Performance index was constructed for each treatment by dividing the average weight gain by respective feed conversion ratio and the weight gain of chicks divided by protein consumed on the basis of dry matter was calculated as the protein efficiency ratio. Percent mortality is a measure of the number of deaths in a particular population. The birds in the experiment were routinely monitored for any death or illness to calculate the mortality rate.
Statistical analysis
The Data belonging to all parameters were subjected statistical analysis by implementing standard methods of variance analysis as defined by statistical package for social science (SPSS), version 20. The significance of the mean difference was checked by Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test (DNMRT) as modified by Kramer (1956).