Effect of Butyric Acid and Citric Acid as growth promoters and its effect on Growth Performance and Feed Efficiency in Broiler Chicken

ffect of Butyric Acid and Citric Acid as growth promoters and its effect on growth performance and feed efficiency in broiler chicken

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of butyric acid and citric acid as a growth promoter on feed intake, growth performance and feed efficiency in boilers. A total of 160 day-old broiler chicks were divided into four treatment groups. The control group (T₄) was fed on the basal diet without any supplementation and other three treatment groups were supplemented with 2% butyric acid, 1% citric acid and combination of 2% butyric acid and 1% citric acid in T₁, T₂ and T₃ groups respectively. Statistical analysis of data revealed that both live body weight and weight gain significantly (p<0.05) improved in treatment groups fed on butyric acid, citric acid alone and in combination as compared to control group(T₄). FCR and Performance index also significantly (p<0.05) improved in the same manner. Simultaneously, Feed intake was reduced significantly (p<0.05) in treatment groups fed on butyric acid, citric acid alone and in combination as compared to control group (T₄). The present study revealed that dietary supplementation of butyric acid, citric acid alone and in combination improves growth performance, FCR and feed efficiency.

Keywords: Butyric acid, Citric acid, broiler, feed intake, growth performance, FCR