Improved Feed Efficiency and Nutritional Property Effects of Honey from Apis mellifera L. as an Additive for Broiler Chickens’ Drinking Water

Abstract

Antimicrobial usage is particularly high in poultry production. Honey as a water supplement to poultry has been explored as a natural and safe antibiotic alternative. This study aimed to investigate the effects of different levels of honey as a water supplement on broilers' growth performance and chemical properties. Five dietary treatments were used: no supplement (T1), commercial electrolytes (T2), 5mL honey (T3), (7.5mL honey (T4), and 10mL honey (T5) per liter of water. The experiment used 150 1-day-old Cobb-400 broiler chicks, assigned to five treatments with three replications of ten (10) birds each (N=30) employing the Complete Block Design (RCBD) in three blocks. Results indicated that 5mL/L-10mL/L honey supplementation led to a significant (p < 0.05) decrease of 4.3% to 7% in feed consumption compared to those with electrolytes. Similarly, using 5mL/L of honey showed 12.5% lower FCR compared with T2 and 24.3% compared with T1. However, a higher level of honey was comparable to T2, indicating that honey supplementation improved feed utilization and reduced feed cost at a certain level. Results of the proximate analysis, particularly on moisture content (MC), crude protein (CP), crude fat (CF), and total carbohydrates ((TC), revealed numerical differences. Samples with 5mL/L to 7.5mL/L levels of honey showed a higher MC, CP, and TC content and lower CF than T2. This implies that honey as a drinking water supplement offers practical advantages in feed consumption and efficiency and in improving the chemical and nutritional properties of chicken meat. A choice for healthier production.