5Animal Disease Diagnostic, Reporting and Surveillance, L&DD, Lahore, Pakistan
6Veterinary Research Institute, L&DD, Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
This study was planned to assess the effectiveness of natural anti heat stressors on the broilers during hot climate. Three hundred one day old broiler birds were divided into four treatments groups, yoghurt, garlic powder and mint and a control group. After two weeks of rearing, data were recorded for growth performance, carcass and visceral organ yield and immune response against Newcastle Disease. Statistical analysis revealed that growth performance (weight gain, carcass weight and cumulative feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly improved with garlic powder, but feed intake remained non-significant. Dressing% and breast% were also significantly higher in garlic fed birds and similar effect was observed for intestinal length. Among visceral organs, liver% was improved upon garlic supplemented broiler but heart and gizzard were not influenced by dietary treatments. Additionally, garlic powder in feed also resulted in significantly higher antibody titer against Newcastle disease. It was concluded that garlic as natural anti-heat stressor has significant positive influence on the performance of heat stressed broilers.
