Vol. 11, Special Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
Subata Mehboob, AM Ganai, Gowhar Gull Sheikh, Azmat Alam Khan, Sheikh Bilal Ahmad, Amotul Muhee and Zulfiqarul Haq

Abstract:
A research was carried out to evaluate the effect of herb Urtica dioica as feed additive on carcass traits and oxidative stability of meat in broilers. A completely randomized design was used with 120 broilers, divided in four treatments with three replicates each (10 birds in each replicate). The treatment groups consisted of group T₁ - offered basal diet without feed additives which served as control, group T_{2 -} basal diet + 1% nettle on D.M basis, group T_3- basal diet + 1.5% nettle and group T_4- basal diet + 2% nettle. The results revealed that there was a significant difference on dressing percentage of carcass in birds of various treatment groups in comparison to control; however other carcass parameters could not reach a statistical difference. The oxidative stability of meat, expressed in terms of Malondialdehyde concentration differed significantly (P≤0.05) between different treatment groups. The Malondialdehyde concentration in treatment group T_4, given 2% of Urtica dioica was the lowest in comparison to control. The overall results depicted that the use of nettle as feed additive in broiler diet had positive effects on dressing percentage of carcass and the oxidative stability of broiler meat.