Vol. 11, Special Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
Nakita Bandu Bhargande, Sandip P Poul, Snehdip Bhimrao Jadhav and Dhiraj H Kankhare

Abstract:
The present experiment entitled “Effect of Aloe vera powder (Aloe barbadensis) on growth performance and meat characteristics of Satpuda poultry” was conducted at Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science, College of Agriculture, Dhule, Maharashtra. One sixty, day old, Satpuda chicks were purchased from Balaji Hatcheries, Pvt. Ltd. Ahmadnagar, Maharashtra. They were randomly distributed into four groups T₀, T₁, T₂ and T₃ with 40 chicks in each group. The experimental broiler chicks were reared on deep litter system in well ventilated shed from 0- 8 weeks. The control group (T₀) was without Aloe vera powder, while chicks in treatment group T₁, T₂ and T₃ were fed basal diet with Aloe vera powder @ 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5%, respectively. The average body weights at the end of 8^th week of age were 719.85, 742.14, 773.20 and 856.50 g in T₀, T₁, T₂ and T₃ groups, respectively. The weekly body weight changes of chicks indicated no significant differences among various treatment groups during the first two weeks of the experiment. There was significant (P<0.05) difference in weekly body weights among the treatments from third weeks onwards. The average weekly body weight gain at the end of 8^th week of age were 160.28, 162.49, 168.22 and 185.74 in T₀, T₁, T₂ and T₃ groups, respectively. However, at the end of the eight week, significantly higher body weight gain in the T₃ treatment group was recorded. Average total feed intake (g/birds) at the end of 8^th week of study was recorded as 602.16, 606.91, 615.41 and 635.41 g for T₀, T₁, T₂ and T₃ groups, respectively. The significantly higher feed intake was observed in T₃ group followed by T₂, T₁ and T₀.