Effect of Phytobiotic Feed Additives- Garlic (Allium sativum), Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) and Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus) as Alternatives to Antibiotic on Growth Performance and Economics in Broiler Chicken

Background: Poultry production is a vital and rapidly growing sector, providing a significant source of animal protein to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population. The production of healthy and high-performing poultry is essential for the sustainability and profitability of this industry. Methods: A feeding trial was conducted for 42 days at Veterinary College Navania, Udaipur in the year 2021. A total of 300, day-old broiler chicks (Cobb-400) were weighted and randomly distributed to ten treatment groups in a completely randomized design with three replicates of 10 birds under each treatment. The birds were fed as per feeding standard. The T1 i.e. control group was fed on basal diet, while T2 was supplemented with Oxytetracycline (OTC) powder @ 0.1 g/kg feed. T3 and T4 were supplemented with Garlic powder @ 0.75% and @ 1.50%. T5 and T6 were supplemented with Ashwagandha powder @ 0.75% and @ 1.50%. T7 and T8 were supplemented with Shatavari powder @ 0.75% and @ 1.50%. T9 was supplemented with Garlic powder @ 0.25%, Ashwagandha powder @ 0.25% and Shatavari powder @ 0.25%. T10 was supplemented with Garlic powder @ 0.50%, Ashwagandha powder @ 0.50% and Shatavari powder @ 0.50%. Result: There were highly significant (P less than 0.01) effect of treatment on feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in different treatment groups. The result showed that the supplementation of 0.50% Garlic, 0.50% Ashwagandha and 0.50% Shatavari powder in broiler diet had significant effect on growth performance. However, net return per bird was higher in supplementation of 0.25% Garlic, 0.25% Ashwagandha and 0.25% Shatavari root powder.