Discipline: Animal Science
The study determined the alternatives of producing brooder chicks without antibiotics by utilizing organic concoctions as nutrient supplements and as preventive measures against diseases. The experimental study assigned in Randomized Complete Block Design with 100 chicks as the subject of the experiment. Each treatment has 20 birds with five birds per replicate. The five treatments were: Treatment A- water only, Treatment B- antibiotics with vitamins, Treatment C- fermented banana fruit juice, Treatment D- fermented pineapple fruit juice, and Treatment E- fermented banana plant juice. Fermented concoctions were added and mixed to the daily water requirement of birds. The result of the study revealed significant differences among the treatments regarding feed consumption. Least Significant Differences (LSD) indicates that birds given with fermented pineapple juice through the drinking water significantly consumed lesser feeds compared to other treatments. Other parameters such as survival rate, feed conversion ratio (FCR), final live weight, the gain in weight, and water consumption were not significant. The results imply that drinking water of birds using organically fermented concoction as nutrient supplements, or pure water or with vitamins and antibiotics were all comparable regarding gain in weight, final live weight, feed conversion ratio, and survival rate of chicks during the brooding period of 21 days.