Evaluation of Emblica officinalis fruit powder as a growth promoter in commercial broiler chickens

Aim: The present study was conducted to evaluate the dietary addition of Emblica officinalis (Amla) fruit powder as a growth promoter in commercial broiler chickens. Materials and Methods: An experiment was conducted on 135 commercial broiler chicks (Ven-Cobb 400 strain) divided into three groups with three replicates of 15 chicks each. Three treatment groups were as follows – T1: Basal diet as per BIS standards; T2: Basal diet supplemented with 0.4% of E. officinalis fruit powder; and T3: Basal diet supplemented with 0.8% of E. officinalis fruit powder. Results: The average body weights at the end of the 6th week were significantly higher (p<0.05) in groups T2 and T3 compared to group T1. Feed intake, feed conversion ratio and feed cost per kg live weight production were similar among the treatment groups. The net profit per bird was the highest in group T2 (Rs. 19.22/bird) followed by group T3 (Rs. 17.86/bird) and the lowest in group T1 (Rs. 14.61/bird). Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, it was concluded that dietary addition of E. officinalis (Amla) fruit powder had a positive effect on growth performance and net profit per bird in commercial broiler chickens.


Introduction
Growth promoters are chemical and biological substances which are added to diet with the aim to improve the growth, utilization of nutrients and in this way realize better production and financial results. Their positive effect can be expressed through better appetite, improved body weight and feed conversion ratio (FCR), stimulation of the immune system and increased vitality, regulation of the intestinal microflora, etc. In any case, expected results of the use of these additives are increased financial returns over the cost of production. Furthermore, due to ban on the use of antibiotic growth promoters in poultry, herbal preparations have been tried as feed additives as an alternative to antibiotics to increase feed efficiency and growth rate in broiler chickens [1].
In the last decade, herbal feed additives have attracted the attention of scientists as useful resource for improving productivity. Besides, these herbs are natural component and do not have any side effects like residues in meat products. Amla (Emblica officinalis) fruit powder is one of the herbs which have potential to boost broiler production. Amla is extensively cultivated all over India. The fruits of the plants are used in Ayurveda as a potant rasayana (revitalisers, biological response modifiers) in which the amla was added as anti-stress agent. Phyto-chemical analysis of amla fruit powder provided evidence of presence of the medicinally important bioactive compounds which can be exploited beneficially to improve productivity in broilers.
Emblica officinalis (Amla) is one of the richest sources of ascorbic acid, minerals, amino acids, tannins, and phenolic compounds [2]. Rapid growth rate in commercial broilers accelerate the metabolic rate and make them vulnerable to oxidative stress owing to increased free radical generation [3]. Gallic acid and tannic acids are the phenolic acids present in E. officinalis contribute to the antioxidant activity, in addition, to ascorbic acid [4]. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the dietary addition of E. officinalis (Amla) fruit powder as a growth promoter in commercial broiler chickens. Available at www.veterinaryworld.org/Vol.9/February-2016/17.pdf

Ethical approval
This research was carried out after approval of Institutional Animal Ethics Committee of College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Gujarat.

Experimental design
A total of 1351-day-old unsexed broiler chicks (Ven-Cobb 400 strain) purchased from a local hatchery were weighed and randomly assigned to one of three treatments with three replicates of 15 chicks based on a completely randomized design. Three treatments were as follows -T 1 : Basal diet as per BIS standards; T 2 : Basal diet supplemented with 0.4% of E. officinalis fruit powder; and T 3 : Basal diet supplemented with 0.8% of E. officinalis fruit powder.

Feeding and management procedures
Broilers were raised on deep litter housing system for 6 weeks. Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the experiment. Broilers were fed in three phases, viz., pre-starter (0-10 days), starter (11-21 days), and finisher (22-42 days) ration as per BIS [5] specifications. Chicks were individually weighed at weekly intervals. Feed consumption and FCR (FCR=feed intake/weight gain) were calculated at weekly intervals. Mortality was recorded daily. The feed cost-economics of broiler production in different treatment groups was calculated based on the current market price of various particulars.

Chemical and statistical analysis
The ingredients and chemical composition of basal diet used during experimental feeding are given in Table-1. Samples of feeds were milled to pass through a 1mm sieve and then analyzed for the chemical composition according to standard procedures of the AOAC [6] methods. The experimental data were statistically analyzed using SPSS software (version 16.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA) as per procedures of Snedecor and Cocharan [7]. The significant differences among the tested means were tested with Duncan's multiple range test [8], and significance was declared at p<0.05.

Growth performance
The data on growth performance is presented in Table-2. The average body weights of the birds at the end of the 6 th week were higher (p<0.05) in groups T 2 (2186.00±19.48 g) and T 3 (2170.60±14.62 g) compared to group T 1 (2076.30±22.27 g). In the present study, the birds supplemented with E. officinalis fruit powder at the rate of 0.4% and 0.8% had higher (p<0.05) overall body weights and weekly body weight gain at the end of 6 th week compared to un-supplemented group. The higher body weights observed in E. officinalis supplemented groups may be attributed to anabolic and antioxidant effect of ascorbic acid, gallic acid and tannic acids present in E. officinalis [9]. Similar findings were reported by Maini et al. [10], Patil et al. [11], Kumari et al. [12] Patil et al. [13]. In another studies, Sujatha et al. [14] and Kumar et al. [15] reported increase in body weight when birds were supplemented with polyherbal feed premix containing E. officinalis.

Feed intake and FCR
Feed intake and FCR were non-significant (p>0.05) among the treatment groups (Table-3). Dietary supplementation of E. officinalisat both levels (0.4% and 0.8%) did not have any adverse (p=0.307) effect on feed intake in broilers.Our findings are in agreement with prior studies [15,16] which demonstrated that supplementation of E. officinalis had no effect of feed intake and FCR. In con-trastPatil et al. [13] reported that significant increase in feed intake when birds were supplemented with either E. officinalis fruit powder alone or in form of poly-herb.

Return over feedcost
The cost of feed per kilogram of live weight production was similar among the treatment groups (Table-4). The profit per bird was the highest (p<0.05) in group T 2 (Rs. 19.22/bird) followed by group T 3 (Rs. 17.86/bird) and lowest in group T 1 (Rs. 14.61/bird). The higher net profit per bird in E. officinalis supplemented groups attributed to higher Provides per kg of diet: 50 mg iron; 10 mg copper; 80 mg zinc; 80 mg manganese; 1 mg iodine and 0.2 mg selenium. ME: Metabolizable energy body weights compared to the un-supplemented group and similar feed intakes among all the treatment groups.

Mortality
The mortality was 4.4%, 2.2% and 2.2% in T 1 , T 2 and T 3 groups, respectively (Table-3). The data indicated that the percent mortality is well within the normal limit, i.e., below 5%. However, the percent mortality in E. officinalis fruit powder supplemented groups (T 2 and T 3 ) were lower indicating better livability of birds as compared to T 1 group, which may be due to immune-modulatory property of bioactive compounds present in E. officinalis. Similarly, Kumar and Singh [17] reported that mortality was reduced in birds supplemented with either E. officinalis fruit powder or its mixture with other herbs.

Conclusion
Results indicated that dietary addition of E. officinalis (Amla) fruit powder at the rate of 0.4% and 0.8% had higher growth rate and net profit per bird in commercial broiler chickens. Though E. officinalis supplementation had shown positive response in the present study, but it needs to be tested at different supplemental levels and in different ration compositions to get the best results.

Authors' Contributions
SRB and MMP designed and supervised the experiment. APP carried out the experimental work.  RBM carried out laboratory analysis of feed samples. MMP, KBP and HDC did the data analysis and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.