Abstract:

This study was conducted to figure out the effect of 1% inclusion of three herbal (Moringa leaves powder, Sumac fruit powder, Thyme powders and their mixture) in the diet on broiler chick’s growth performance. A total of 181 a day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly distributed into five dietary treatments with 3 replicates (12 birds/rep). The groups were Control (no addition, T1), 1% Moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaves powder (MLP, T2), 1% Sumac (Rhus coriaria L.) fruit powder (SFP, T3), 1% Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) leaves powder (TLP, T4), 1% Mixture of Moringa, Sumac and Thyme leaves powder (MST, T5). The birds were offered non-pelleted diets ad libitum from beginnig to end of the trail. Live body weight, body weight gain, accumulative feed intake and feed conversion ratio were recorded weekly. Moringa leaves powder (MLP), Sumac fruit powder (SFP), the mixture of Moringa, Sumac and Thyme (MST) had significant (p<0.05) effects on growth performance. Dietary supplementation of the herbs had positive effect on live body weight (LBW) and feed conversion ratio.  The highest LBW was observed in MLP and MST groups. In terms of LBW, however, there was no significant (p< 0.05) differences for the birds fed with supplemented Thyme leaves powder (TLP) relative to the control group during all total periods (0-42 d). Positive effects was observed on accumulative FCR comparing to the control group and the best significant FCR was obtained by using Moringa additive. However, there were no significant effects (P<0.05) of treatments on accumulative feed intake except the feed supplementation with Thyme only when comparing to control group and other treatments. As a result, Moringa leaves powder, Sumac fruit powder, Thyme leaves powder, and Mixture of Moringa, Sumac & Thyme leaves powder could be used as growth promoter instead of antibiotics by 1% of supplementation in the diet of broiler with no negative effects.

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