Growth Performance of Broiler Starter Chicks Fed Diets Containing Different Levels of Aqueous Citrus Aurantium Stem Bark Extracts

Abstract

Two hundred, 1-day old broiler chicks (Arbo acres) were used to evaluate the growth performance of broiler starter fed diets having different levels of aqueous Citrus aurantium stem bark (CASB). Birds were randomly distributed into 5 groups, each with 5 replicates consisting of 10 birds each in a completely randomized design. Treatment 1 (T1) basal diet + Ciprofloxacin 0.2 mL/litre of water, T2 (basal diet + 10 mL/litre CASB), T3 (basal diet + 20 mL/litre CASB), T4 (basal diet + 30 mL/litre CASB) and T5 (basal diet + 40 mL/litre CASB). Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the experiment which lasted for 21 days. Gas chromatography –mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was also carried out on CASB and the result revealed the presence of 23 bioactive compounds which accounts for 96.76 %. The most abundant secondary metabolite is D-limonene (50.06 %) followed by α-cubebene (8.49 %), linalool (6.02 %), β-citrylideneethanol (4.30 %), myrcene (3.44 %), α-longipinene (2.75 %), β-santalene (2.50 %), terpinen-4-ol (2.04 %), γ-eudesmol (1.93 %), α-pinene (1.71 %), Cis-4-thujanol (1.67 %), β-fenchol (1.40 %), γ-terpinene (1.10 %), carvenone (1.10 %), β-cayrophyllene (0.77 %), 4-methyl-2,3-hexadien -1-ol (0.17 %), capraldehyde (0.16 %), phytol (0.10 %), spathulenol (0.10 %), torreyol-α-cadinol (0.07 %), 3-methoxy-p-cymene (0.01 %) and β-Elemene (0.01 %) respectively. Average daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio were significantly (P ˂0.05) different among the treatments. Feeding birds CASB 10 mL to 40 mL/liters increased the average daily feed intake though not significantly (P ˃0.05). It was concluded that CASB is rich in several bioactive compounds with therapeutic properties and it could be fed to broilers up to 40 mL per liter of water without causing any deleterious effect on the performance of birds.