Abstract:
Finding alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) has been a challenge for the
broiler industry due to increasing restrictions on their use. The study aimed to evaluate the
effect of three inclusion levels (3%,6%,9% per kg of feed) of cinnamaldehyde and eugenol
on the growth performance of broilers as a potential substitute to AGPs. A total of four
hundred eighty Cobb-500-day-old chicks were raised to the age of 35 days in a randomized
block design with eight dietary treatments, each replicated six times with 10 birds per each
replicate. Treatments based on added Growth promoters (GP) to the basal diet: negative
control-NC (without GP), positive control-PC (AGP -Zinc bacitracin), cinnamaldehyde at 3%
(T3), 6% (T4), 9% (T5) or eugenol at 3% (T6), 6% (T7), 9% (T8) added per kg of feed. The
feed intake (FI) and live body weights were measured separately for each replicate at
weekly intervals. The weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and Performance efficiency
factor (PEF) were calculated for the total growing period. One-way Analysis of Variance
procedure was used to compare the performances of the treatments. Birds fed PC diet
significantly increased (p<0.05) live weight (2056±22.23 g), weight gain (2009±22.07 g) and
improved FI (2887.9±38.4) compared to the other treatments. However, except for the
birds fed the highest level of cinnamaldehyde (T5), other cinnamaldehyde and eugenol fed
birds significantly increased (p<0.05) the live weight and weight gain compared to the NC
birds. The significantly lowest (p<0.05) FCR was recorded in 3% cinnamaldehyde fed birds
(T3). The highest (p<0.05) PEF was also recorded in 3% cinnamaldehyde fed birds, and that
was statistically similar to PC. Conclusively, the present study demonstrated that birds fed
diets containing 3% and 6% cinnamaldehyde and 3%, 6% and 9% of eugenol, improved the
growth performances compared to birds fed without growth promoters (NC) by improving
FCR.
