EFFECT OF VARYING LEVELS OF TURMERIC RHIZOME POWDER (Curcuma longa) SUPPLEMENTATION ON HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF BROILER CHICKEN

Indiscriminate use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry farming has caused emergence of new pathogenic strains and resistance to other strains. This situation warranted the development of safe and alternative growth promoters and immunity enhancers in livestock production. Phytogenic additives in animal and bird feed is a centuries-old practice. Thus, this study investigated the efficacy of turmeric rhizome powder (Curcuma longa) as a natural growth promoter poultry feed additive. The study was designed on 112 one-day old chicks, assigned into four groups. Control group (T1) kept on basal diet only and groups T2, T3 and T4 fed with 0.5%, 0.75 and 1% TRP respectively on top of the basal diet for 45 days. Each dietary group consisted of four replicates of seven birds. Body weight, feed intake, blood biochemical analysis status of serum was investigated. In summary, we concluded that TRP can be used as a natural feed additive to improve growth performance in poultry, probably due to the better antioxidant activity and antimicrobial effects contributed by the better bioavailability of curcuminoids and turmerones. Beside these curcuminoids and turmerones act as gastroprotective and anti-inflammatory agents. The results obtained from this work show that lower inclusion rates of turmeric (0.5%) have a better potential on most of the observed parameters.