Philippine E-Journals

Efficacy of Biocholine Alone or In Combination with Herbal Vitamins C and E on the Growth Performance of Broilers

Andrea Paz Maralit Rodelas | Veneranda A. Magpantay | Edwin S. Luis

Discipline: Veterinary Medicine, Animal Science

 

Abstract:

A feeding trial was conducted for 42 days to determine the efficacy of replacing choline chloride (60%) with biocholine alone or in combination with herbal vitamin C and herbal vitamin E on the performance of broilers. A total of 280 straight-run, Cobb day-old chicks were randomly distributed to 28 cages with 10 chicks in each cage. Four treatments, namely, basal diet with synthetic choline chloride (CC), basal diet with biocholine (BC), BC with herbal vitamin C and BC with Herbal vitamin E, were randomly assigned to different cages following a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Each treatment was replicated 7 times. Basal and finisher diets were formulated to contain 20 and 18.5% crude protein, respectively, 3000 kcal/kg metabolizable energy and supplemented with required minerals, amino acid and vitamins excluding choline. Results showed that, except for the overall feed consumption, feed efficiency and dressing percentage, the other performance parameters did not differ significantly among treatments. The results obtained in this study indicated that supplementation of diet with biocholine in combination with herbal vitamins C or E significantly reduced feed consumption, but significantly improved feed efficiency of the broilers and increased income over feed and chick cost. This study showed that the use of biocholine as replacement to synthetic choline chloride requires supplementation of herbal vitamin C and herbal vitamin E in the diet.