GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND COST ANALYSIS OF BROILER CHICKS FED VARYING DIETARY LEVELS OF BENZOIC ACID

Abstract

A four-week study was conducted to evaluate the growth performance of broiler chicks fed varying dietary levels of benzoic acid. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) day-old unsexed "Arbor acre" strain broiler chicks were randomly assigned into five treatment groups. Each treatment group contained 24 birds replicated three times with 8 birds per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). The treatments were designated as follows: Treatment 1,0g benzoic acid; Treatment 2, 2.5g benzoic acid per kg of feed; Treatment 3, 5.0g benzoic acid per kg of feed; Treatment 4, 7.5g benzoic acid per kg of feed and Treatment 5, 10g benzoic acid per kg of feed. Parameters assessed included final body weight (FBW), total weight gain (TWG), daily weight gain (DWG), total feed intake (TFI), daily feed intake (DFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Feed and water were provided ad libitum. The results showed that dietary treatments had significant (p<0.05) effects on FBW, TWG, and DWG. The FBW, TWG, and DWG increased with increasing levels of benzoic acid in the diet. Birds fed diet containing 10g of benzoic acid per kg of feed (treatment 5) had the highest FBW, TWG and DWG values (1081.49±23.74g, 1041.19±47.20g and 37.19±1.69g, respectively). There were no significant (p>0.05) differences among treatments in initial body weight (IBW), TFI, DFI, FCR, cost of total feed intake (CTFI) and feed cost per kg gain. It was concluded that up to 10g of benzoic acid can be included in the diet of broiler chicks for optimum growth performance without any deleterious effect on birds.