Comparative Efficacy of Citrullus Colocynthis Fruit Powder and Popular Antibiotic Growth Promoters in Broiler Diet Kamran Z.*, Ruby T.1, Hussain M.1, Ali S.2, Ahmad S.3, Abdullah M.4, Sohail M.U.5, Koutoulis K.C.6, Ahmad H.I.7, Ahmed I., Shahzad M.I.8, Yousaf M., Afzal G.1 Department of Animal Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur-63100, Pakistan 1Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan 2Governement Poultry Farm, Livestock and Dairy Development Department, Punjab, Bahawalpur-63100, Pakistan 3Department of Poultry Science, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan 4Cholistan Institute of Desert Studies, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan 5Proteomics Core, Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar 6Department of Avian Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Karditsa-43100, Greece 7Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan 8Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur-63100, Pakistan *Corresponding author: zkami79@yahoo.com; zahid.kamran@iub.edu.pk
Online published on 13 April, 2022. Abstract The present study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of Citrullus colocynthis fruit powder (CCFP) as alternative to antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) in broiler diets. Four hundred d-old Ross308 broiler chicks were randomly placed in twenty floor pens of twenty chicks each. A corn-based basal diet during starter (1 to 7 d), grower (8 to 21 d) and finisher (22 to 35 d) periods was formulated (control group). The other dietary treatments consisted of same basal diet but supplemented with 0.335g zinc bacitracin (15%) (ZB group), 0.125g enramycin (4.4%) (ENR group), and 1.0g (CC-1 group) and 1.5g CCFP per kg of diet (CC-1.5 group). Each experimental diet was assigned randomly to four replicate pens. The CC groups showed improved (P<0.05) weight gain with similar feed conversion ratio as compared to control and ZB groups. However, there was no difference in performance among various CC and ENR groups. No difference was observed in carcass characteristics of broilers fed different dietary treatments. Similarly, cecal and ileal bacterial populations (total bacterial count, total coliform count, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus) and serum concentrations of glucose, uric acid, triglycerides, cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total proteins, albumins and globulins were comparable among CC and AGP groups. Immune response against ND and IBD virus was also not affected by the dietary treatments. In conclusion, 1.0g CCFP per kg of diet could be used in broiler diets as a replacement of commonly used AGP. Top Keywords Antibiotics, Broiler growth performance, Carcass characteristics, Citrullus colocynthis, Gut ecology. Top |