Effect of supplementation of Rough Lemon juice, Amla juice and Aloe vera gel on physio-biochemical and hematological parameters of broiler chicken during summer season Gowri R., Amrutkar Suraj*, Khan Asma, Khan Nazam, Mahajan Vikas, Kour Manpreet, Chakraborty D., Deshmukh Bharti Department of Livestock Production Management, FVSc AH, R.S. Pura, SKUAST–Jammu, India *Corresponding author Email: suraj_amrutkar@rediffmail.com
Online Published on 15 January, 2024. Abstract Herbal additives are rich in vitamin C, A and other biologically active compounds and may act as a surrogate source to subdue heat stress in chicken. Among various herbal additives such as rough lemon (Citrus Jambhiri Lush) juice, amla (Emblica officinalis) juice and aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis miller) gel are easily available during summer (stress period) and also cost less in comparison to synthetic feed additives in market. To analyze the performance by supplementation of rough lemon juice, amla juice and aloe vera gel in broilers under heat stress conditions a study was carried out with a random distribution of day-old straight-run chicks (240 No.) into four treatment groups (n=60). All the groups were given basal diet (Maize-Soya based; T0) was the same for all the groups with supplementation of rough lemon juice (T1), amla juice (T2) and aloe vera (T3) @ 2% in drinking water. The experiment trial lasted for 42 days during the heat stress period (June-July) with minimum THI (78.2) and maximum THI (88.02). Feed and water were offered ad libitum throughout the trial. Results revealed significantly higher (P<0.05) body weight in T3 and T2 followed by T1 and least in T0 at 42 days of age. The overall mean of the feed conversion ratio of various treatments T0, T1, T2 and T3 were 2.16, 1.98, 1.89 and 1.82 respectively. The mortality percentage in various treatments T0, T1, T2 and T3 were 6.67, 3.33, 0.0 and 1.67 respectively. pH value, PCV (%), Sodium (mmol/L) and Potassium (mmol/L) was higher in T3 than rest of the groups. HL ratio is significantly lower (P<0.05) in T3, T2 followed by T1 than T0 at 42 days of age. It may be inferred that amongst these phyto-additives, aloe vera leads in alleviating heat stress in broilers in an economical way followed by amla and rough lemon. Top Keywords Rough lemon, Amla, Aloe vera, Heat stress, Broiler. Top |