COMPARATIVE STUDY FOR USING NATURAL FEED ADDITIVES ON PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

A total number of 210 one-day old Cobb 500 broiler chicks, were reared up to 35 days of age, as they were distributed into factorial design of two natural feed additives the first one was bee propolis (BPr) while the second was bee pollen (BP) with three supplementation levels (0.05, 0.10 and 0.20%), as compared with control group (0.0% feed additives). The study aimed to examine these additives with different levels and their interaction on growth performance, carcass characteristics and carcass parts of broiler chickens. The results indicated that, natural feed additives (BPr and BP) did not significantly affect final live body weight (LBW), body weight gain (BWG), feed consumption (FC), feed conversion ratio (FCR), performance index (PI), European production efficiency factor (EPEF), energy conversion ratios (ECR) and protein conversion ratios (PCR). Wheaese, levels of supplementation and their interaction, significantly affected LBW, BWG, FCR, PI and EPEF. Concerning carcass characteristics % (carcass, giblets and total edible parts) and carcass parts % (breast, thigh, drumstick and wing) , data showed insignificant figures when chicks fed different feed additives with different levels and their interaction. Based on the experimental results, it is concluded that supplementing broiler chick diets with (BPr or BP) with different levels (0.05, 0.10 or 0.20%) could a good approach to improve production performance without negative effects on carcass characteristics or carcass parts percentages.