EFFECT OF DIETARY BROWN ALGAE SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKS

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary brown supplementation diet on growth performance, some blood parameters and carcass characteristics of broiler chocks. A total of 150 unsexed Ross 308 one-day old broiler chicks were individually weighed and randomly divided into five groups, and each treatment replicated three times of 10 chicks. Each group was fed one of five diets during the experimental period from 1 to 42 days of age. Dietary treatments were as follow: control (without supplementation), brown algae at levels of 0.5, 2, 3.5 and 5%, respectively. The results indicated that body weight, body weight gain and performance index were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased by brown algae supplementation in comparison with birds of the control group. Feeding diet supplemented with 3.5% brown algae significantly improved feed conversion ratio (FCR). Brown algae supplementation significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased plasma total protein, albumin, globulin and liver enzymes (ALT and AST), while total cholesterol concentration was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) decreased. Results showed significant increase of dressing and giblets percentage by brown algae supplementation, while abdominal fat was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) decreased. In conclusion, using brown algae at a level of 3.5% in broiler diets improved performance and had positive effect on carcass characteristics of broiler chicks.