Influence of selected plant seeds on the performance, carcass characteristics, sensory evaluation, and economics of broiler chicken

The immergence of antibiotic resistance, in livestock especially poultry, led to the ban of antibiotics as a growth promoter in some part of the world. This brought about the investigations into the development of various alternatives to antibiotics that will not compromise the integrity of poultry products for safe consumption. Therefore, this study examined the possible impacts of selected plants seeds (pawpaw, mustard, and black cumin) as feed additives on the performance, carcass characteristics, and sensory evaluation of broilers. A total of 180 day-old Arbor Acre Plus chicks were randomly assigned to five treatments of four replicates in a completely randomized design. The five treatments were three plant seed additives: pawpaw (PPS), mustard (MUS), and black cumin (BCS), treatment without additives (CON, i.e., no plants seeds/medications), and treatment with medications and antibiotics (ANT). During the feeding trials that lasted for 8 weeks, body weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were considered performance data. At the end of the feeding trials, two birds per replicate were slaughtered for carcass parameters and sensory evaluation. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. Mustard seed ( Brassica juncea ) significantly ( P = 0.018) supported carcass growth. Further, the highest feed intake was obtained in MUS while the lowest was obtained in CON birds. The PPS had higher ( P = 0.013) BWG than in other treatments while the lowest was obtained in CON. Values of FCR were lowest ( P = 0.15) in PPS while the highest in CON birds. Furthermore, MUS and PPS had significantly ( P = 0.018) and ( P = 0.03) higher live weight than CON and ANT, while MUS had higher dressed weight percentage than CON and ANT birds. Broiler meat under diet supplemented with black cumin was relatively found to be most acceptable while meat under mustard seed was the least acceptable. In contrast, the average cost realized per bird was obtained in PPS while the lowest was in CON and ANT. However, broiler diet supplemented with BCS brings about a corresponding decrease in percentage feeding cost reduction among plant supplements.