Performance of broiler birds fed graded levels of clove (Syzgium aromaticum (L.) buds powder in semi-arid region, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was conducted on broiler chickens to investigate the effect of graded levels of clove buds powder fed on performance. A total of 288 broiler chickens were being used. The broiler chickens randomly divided into four treatments groups (four experimental diets): T1 (control), T2 (0.5 kg/100kg), T3 (1 kg/100kg) and T4 (1.5 kg/100kg). At the starter phase of experiment, the broiler chickens in treatment 4 (1.5 kg/100kg cloves) show better performs (p<0.05) in final body weight, body weight gain and body weight gain per bird compared to birds in treatment 1(control) and treatment 2 (0.5 kg/100kg). The final phase of the study shows significantly (p<0.05) decreases in feed intake, average daily feed intake and mortality rate with increasing levels of the clove buds powder fed, while body weight and weight gain were increase significantly (p<0.05) with increasing levels of the clove buds powder fed. The study concludes that the use of ingredients of the cloves in poultry diet significantly (p<0.05) improves performance at 1.5 kg/100kg fed inclusion for broiler birds at starter and final phase.