Effects of Soyabean Oil and Garlic-in-Water Supplementation on Performance, Carcass Trait, Organs Weight, Haematology, and Serum Cholesterol Content of Finisher Broiler Chickens
O. B. Jegede
Department of Animal Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
G. E. Onibi
Department of Animal Production and Health, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.
O. A. Ogunwole *
Department of Animal Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
A four weeks feeding trial was conducted using 160 four-week old Arbor acre chickens to assess the effects of soyabean oil and garlic (Allium sativum) in-water on performance, carcass characteristics, organs weight, haematological variables and serum cholesterol content of broiler birds. They were allotted to 4 treatments of 10 birds (5 males and 5 females) per replicate in a 2×2 factorial arrangement in which there were two diets (non-soyabean oil and soyabean oil diets) with or without garlic supplementation in drinking water. The final live weight of birds were significantly (P<0.01) increased by the dietary treatments with broilers fed soyabean oil-based diet having significantly (P<0.05) higher weight gain than those fed the non-soyabean oil diet. Also, birds without garlic supplementation consistently had higher weight (P<0.01) than those offered garlic in drinking water. The water intake of birds given water supplemented with garlic (5.54; 5.64 L/bird) was significantly (P<0.05) lower than those without garlic supplementation (5.95; 5.83 L/bird). The haematological variables, serum cholesterol content, carcass characteristics and relative organs weight of the chickens were not significant different (P>0.05). The interactions of dietary oil supplementation and garlic-in-water was not significant (P>0.05) for all measured indices. Conclusively, supplementation of diet with soyabean oil led to better broiler performance and garlic-in-water failed to neither lower abdominal fat deposition nor reduce serum cholesterol.
Keywords: Broilers performance, garlic-in-water supplementation, serum cholesterol, relative organs weight and abdominal fat, primal cuts