Efficacy of ginger (Zingiber officinale) and garlic (Allium sativum) powder as phytogenic feed additives in diet of broiler chickens

Abstract

Phytogenic feed additives are gaining importance as an alternative to antibiotics in broiler production. To assess the efficacy of ginger (Zingiber officinale) and garlic (Allium sativum) powder as phytogenic feed additives in diet of broiler chickens, a total 180 broiler chicks (Cobb 400) were randomly assigned to four treatments based on a completely randomized design. The treatments were as; T1: (control) was fed with standard diet as per BIS (1992); T2: control diet + 0.1% ginger powder + 0.2% garlic powder; T3: control diet + 0.25% ginger powder + 0.5% garlic powder and T4: control diet + 0.5% ginger powder + 1.0 garlic powder. The results showed that there was no significant effect of addition of mixture of ginger and garlic on average weekly body weights and final body weights. However, body weight gain at seventh week was significantly (P 0.05) among the different treatment groups. Return over feed cost (Rs./bird) was highest in T2 (54.44) group followed by T1 (51.74) and T3 (47.63) groups and lowest in T4 (36.11) group. From the current findings, it was concluded that dietary addition of mixture of ginger (0.1%) and garlic (0.2%) has improved body weight gain and return over feed cost in broiler chickens.