Effects of Curry Leaf (Murraya Koengii) Powder on Growth Performance, Carcass Fat and Serum Cholesterol Levels of Broiler Chicken

Abstract

Strategies to increase production performance with desired carcass characters such as low fat and cholesterol are among the priority research areas in poultry industry. Some phytogenic feed additives are known to have growth promoting and/or fat lowering effects in broilers. Objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary curry leaf (Murraya Koengii) powder (CLP) on growth performances, performance, carcass fat and serum cholesterol levels of broiler chicken. Giving a completely randomize design experiment with six replicates, 90 broiler in 30 pens received a broiler finisher diet with either 0 (control), 0 .5 ,1 ,1 .5 or 2% CLP ad libitum from day 23-43. Serum cholesterol contents were determined on day 42. On day 43, one randomly selected bird from each pen was killed and dissected to determine the internal organ weights and, cloacal, abdominal, gizzard and total fat. Live weight on day 43, weight gain and feed intake and the feed conversion ratio were not significantly affected by the dietary CLP levels. Gizzard fat content was unaffected by the dietary CLP levels. Dietary CLP significantly increased the weight of the abdominal fat pad. However, both cloacal and total fat contents of the control bird significantly increased at lower (0.5 and 1%) dietary CLP levels and then reduced at higher (1.5 and 2% ) CLP levels. Organ weights and serum cholesterol contents were not significantly changed due to dietary CLP. It was concluded that dietary CLP had no effect on growth performance. (Upto 1% dietary CLP increases carcass fat contents). Further research are needed to ascertain whether dietary CLP levels beyond 2% have fat reduction effects in broiler chicken.