Effect of acidic and alkaline drinking water on body weight gain and feed efficiency in commercial broilers* Veeramani P.1, Asstt. Prof., Selvan S.T., Viswanathan K. Department of Poultry Science, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal. * Part of MVSc thesis submitted to TNUVAS, Chennai (TN). 1 AICRP on Poultry, COVAS, MD, Mannuthy. Abstract To study the effect of acidic and alkaline drinking water on body weight gain and feed efficiency in broileis, two hundred day old broiler chicks were randomly divided into five treatment groups with two replicates each. The drinking water was treated with 0.5 and 1 per cent lactic acid for acidification, 0.2 and 0.4 per cent sodium chloride for alkalinisation and a control was provided to the birds in the respective treatment groups. The production parameters viz. body weight gain, feed consumption and feed efficiency were studied. The cumulative body weight gain was highest with 0.5 per cent lactic acid group (l516.3g) followed by 0.4 per cent alkalinisation group (1447.8g). The feed efficiency was better with 0.5 per cent acidification group (2.17) followed by 0.4 per cent alkalinisation group (2.29). Broilers provided with 0.5 per cent lactic acid in drinking water had significantly (p<0.05) higher body weight gain with lowest feed consumption and the best feed efficiency as compared to other groups. Top Key Words Broilers, acidification, alkalinisation, body weight gain, feed efficiency. Top |