Vol. 10, Special Issue 11 (2021)

Author(s):
Pardeep Kumar, Rohit Walia, Sunil Punia, Sajjan Sihag, Sushil Kumar and Zile Singh Sihag

Abstract:
A 42 days experiment was carried out to examine the effect of dietary supplementation of Fenugreek seeds (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) powder (FSP) on growth performance, carcass characteristic and hematological parameters in broiler chickens. One hundred and forty-four day-old broiler chicks were randomly divided into six dietary treatment groups viz. T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 with each treatment having three replications of 8 birds. Supplementation with FSP was done at the rate of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0% in T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6, respectively. The study revealed that supplementation of fenugreek seed powder at 1.5% or above in the diet of broilers resulted in significant (p<0.05) improvement in feed intake, weight gain and FCR. A significant (p<0.05) increase in total leukocyte and platelet count in the blood of broilers fed diets supplemented with FSP was observed. The slaughter weight, un-eviscerated carcass, eviscerated carcass and thigh weight increased (p<0.05) with increasing levels of fenugreek seed powder up to the level of 2.5%. The carcass weight was also highest at inclusion level 2.5% FSP. The fenugreek supplemented groups had the highest (p<0.05) dressing percentage as compared to control group.