Effects of Dietary Turmeric and Red Ginger Meal on Broiler Chickens Performance in Tropical Area

A study using 180 male day-old broiler chickens was conducted to observe the effect dietary turmeric (TR) and Red ginger (RG) meal as source of phytobiotics in the ration on growth performance and carcass quality in the tropics. The chicks were randomly allotted into five dietary treatments. The birds were reared in an opened-system poultry house with ambient temperature between 27-34oC. The five treatments were: basal diet without turmeric and red ginger meal supplementation (control diet; T1); control diet + 5 g/kg TR + 7.5 g/kg RG (T2); control diet + 10 g/kg TR + 7.5 g/kg RG (T3); control diet + 5 g/kg TR + 15 g/kg RG (T4); and control diet + 10 g/kg TR + 15 g/kg RG (T5). Each treatment was replicated 6 times with six birds in each replicate pen. Data obtained in current study were statistically analyzed using One way ANOVA. Results showed that when broiler chickens were kept in high temperature environment dietary supplementation of turmeric or red ginger meal did not show any significant effect on growth performance, carcass quality, and abdominal fatness. However there was a tendency that supplementation up to 10 g/kg TR in combination with 15 g/kg RG improved final weight (P = 0.066) and average daily gain (P = 0.084). It might be concluded that when broiler chickens were raised under opened-system poultry house in tropical climate, supplementation of turmeric and red ginger meal with the rate of 15 g/kg was not enough to improve poultry productivity. Keywords: Turmeric, Red ginger, Broiler chickens, Carcass quality, Growth performanc