Comparative efficacy of supplementation of phytoconcentrate herbal preparation and synthetic amino acid on broiler performance

In view to study the role of herbal sources of essential amino acids in improving growth & performance, an experiment was conducted on seventy five day Vencob broiler chicks. Chicks were randomly divided into three groups (n=25), one negative control (T ) and two treatments (T & T ). Control group (T ) was offered basal diet deficient in natural or 0 1 2 0 synthetic source of amino acids (choline, methionine, lysine & biotin). Treatment group T was fed with basal diet 1 supplemented with polyherbal formulation comprising natural sources (herbs) that mimic the activity of amino acids (choline, methionine, lysine & biotin) @ 2Kg/tonne of feed while treatment group T was fed with basal diet 2 supplemented with combination of synthetic choline chloride (600gm/tonne), synthetic methionine (1kg/tonne), synthetic lysine (1kg/tonne) and biotin (150mg/tonne). Growth & performance parameters were recorded at weekly intervals and a metabolic trial for nutrient retention studies was conducted at the end of study. A significant increase in mean body weight gain, mean final body weight, feed efficiency & nutrient retention was observed in both the treated groups as compared to untreated control. The results of group T supplemented with herbal sources of amino acids were 1 in confirmation with T supplemented with combination of synthetic amino acids suggesting that the polyherbal 2 formula can successfully replace synthetic additives in feed.


Introduction
Alternatively, many herbs are rich source of these essential amino acids and also mimic the activity like Methionine, choline and Lysine are universally that of methionine, choline or biotin. These may be recognized as the most two limiting amino acids in supplemented along with ration to replace synthetic in broiler diets based on corn and soybean meal (Baker, feed. 1997;Han and Baker, 1991). The supplementation of The present experimental trial was conducted to broiler feeds with these amino acids is very common in evaluate efficacy of polyherbal coded formulation the poultry industry. However, Synthetic methionine AV/CAP/18 (supplied by M/S Ayurvet Limited, Baddi, and choline are metabolized into highly toxic India) in comparison to synthetic additives in improving compounds such as methylpropionate, trimethylamine overall growth, productivity and performance in broilers. thereby, adversely altering the performance of poultry

Materials and Methods
birds (Bender, 1975). Synthetic methionine and choline are listed among the prohibited synthetic An experimental trial was conducted in seventy substances and its usage has been questioned in five day old Vencob broiler chicks of nearly similar organic farming practices (Fanatico et al., 2007). Feed live body weight at Department of Animal Nutrition, rations that are high in plant proteins, such as soyabean College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Udgir, meal can be used instead of synthetic amino acid Dist. Latur, Maharashtra, India. The methodology of supplements, but may lead to environmental pollution. research trial and protocol was legally approved by the It is difficult to design diet with sufficient Methionine Committee for the purpose of control and supervision and choline but without oversupplying protein or on experiments in animals ( Udgir, Maharashtra, India. Chicks were randomly nutrient retention studies was conducted on represendivided into three groups (n=25), one negative control tative four birds per group during last week of (T ) and two treatments (T and T ). experiment. Daily feed consumption as well as faecal 0 1 2 output from each bird was measured. The daily faecal Control group (T ) was offered basal diet deficient 0 output was collected and preserved for proximate in natural or synthetic source of amino acids (choline, analysis studies. The feed and fecal samples were methionine, lysine and biotin). Treatment group T 1 subjected for analysis of dry matter (DM), crude was fed with basal diet supplemented with herbal protein (CP), crude fibre (CF), ether extract (EE), total formulation containing combination of herbs (Cicer ash (TA) and nitrogen free extract (NFE). The nutrient arientinum, Phaseolus mungo, Mucuna pruriens, digestibility was calculated after analysis of nutrient Trigonella foenumgraecum, Nigella sativa, Citrullus content in feed consumed and feces voided by the colocynthis and many more) that mimic the activity of selected birds. Weende's system of proximate analysis amino acids (choline, methionine, lysine and biotin) @ 2Kg/tonne of feed while treatment group T was fed was adopted for estimation of chemical composition 2 of feed and feces in the nutrient analysis. Statistical with basal diet supplemented with combination of analysis was carried out by the method given by synthetic choline chloride (600gm/tonne), synthetic methionine (1kg/tonne), synthetic lysine (1kg/tonne) Snedecor and Cochran, 1980. and biotin (150mg/tonne).

Results and Discussion
The chicks of all the three groups were housed separately and maintained on ad libitum broiler starter Growth and Performance: The feed formula and and finisher ration and clean drinking water throughout chemical composition of broiler starter and broiler the experiment. The chicks were vaccinated for Lasota finisher ration for control group and treatment groups th th is depicted in  T2) than control from 1st to 6th week of experiment, methionine over and above the recommended however, the values were non-significantly different requirement of broilers improves their performance in among two treatments from 1st to IIIrd week ( Table 2). terms of body weight gain and food conversion At VIth week, the mean body weight gain of T group efficiency (Ohta and Ishibashi, 1995).

1
The results in the present study are in was significantly higher than T suggesting that the 2 corroboration with those reported by Kalbande et al., supplementation of herbal product lead to compara-(2009) that addition of herbal source of methionine tively higher body weight gain than the group fed along with feed improved performance in terms of combination of synthetic amino acids in basal ration.
body weight gain and feed efficiency in broilers. The mean final body weight at the end of 6th week in Similar results were also given by Simone et al., treatment groups T (1804Simone et al., treatment groups T ( .1410.70 gm) and T 2 1 (1995) and Ohta and Ishibashi, (1995) that (1788.47 10.70 gm) was significantly higher than the supplementing herbal or synthetic sources of essential positive control group T (859.36 9.31 gm) ( Table 3). 0 amino acids improved feed to gain ratio in broilers. The depression in body weight gain and mean The feed conversion ratio for T (1.88) was final body weight in positive control group T may be 0 0 significantly higher than T (1.544) and T (1.536) that 1 2 correlated with the basal diet deficient in essential might be due to improved feed efficiency due to amino acids methionine, choline, lysine and biotin. In supplementation of either herbal sources or synthetic poultry ration, along with the vitamins and minerals, amino acids in feed. The results are well in proteins play a critical role, amongst these methionine confirmation with those reported by Ozturkan et al., and lysine are essentially required for overall growth and performance (Swick et al., 1990). Herbs namely (1993) that supplementation of choline, methionine Cicer arientinum, Phaseolus mungo, Mucuna and lysine to broilers improved performance in terms pruriens of feed efficiency and livability. are rich source of proteins and essential Nutrient Retention Studies: The mean values of amino acids (Baker, 1997). The significant increase in digestibility coefficients of various nutrients of mean final body weight and body weight gain in different groups are summarized in Table-

. Mean (+ SE) values of Live body weight at weekly intervals of study
Means bearing at least one common superscripts within rows do not differ significantly. HS-Highly significant (P < 0.05), NS-Non significant, S -Significant