Carmencita D. Mateo | Mylen S. Billena
Discipline: Veterinary Medicine, Animal Science
Five hundred (500) day-old Arbor Acre broiler chicks were used in a 42-day feeding trial to demonstrate the effects of organic chromium (Cr) from yeast; mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) and zinc bacitracin (ZnB) supplementation on performance and carcass characteristic of broilers. Performance of birds fed with feeds supplemented with Cr, MOS or ZnB were better (P<0.05) than those fed without additive. Supplementation of broilers with Cr, MOS with ZnB and MOS alone significantly increased live body weight, weight gain and feed efficiency during the first 3 weeks of life. MOS alone or in combination with ZnB proved to
be superior (P<0.05) to ZnB alone in improving growth performance of broilers. The combination of Cr and ZnB also positively influenced growth performance of broilers. MOS and Cr tended to increase breast yield and decrease fat yield in broilers. This study demonstrated that MOS can replace the feed antibiotic ZnB for improvement of performance and carcass characteristic of broilers.