Effect of supplementation of herbal growth promoters on the growth performance in broilers

Introduction

The rearing of poultry provides supplementary income to millions of farmers and landless labourers of rural India. As per BAHS (2019) [5] , the population of poultry in India was 851.81 million. In India, the total meat production is 10.50 million tonnes and poultry contributing about 49% of total meat production during the year 2024-25 (BAHS, 2025) [6] . Feed accounts for 60-70% of poultry production costs (Eniwaiye et al., 2026) [8] . Phase feeding strategies have significantly improved weight gain and feed conversion ratio in broilers. To sustain growth in the poultry industry, exploring alternative feed resources and additives are essential. Phytogenic feed additives (PFA) derived from plants, herbs, or extracts contain bioactive compounds such as phenolics, terpenoids, glycosides, and alkaloids, contributing to their antimicrobial effects (Aminullah et al., 2025) [2] . Recent studies have shown that PFAs can be effectively used in poultry to improve growth performance, feed efficiency, immunity, gut health, product quality and economic returns, acting as alternatives to antibiotics by decreasing oxidative stress, pathogenic microbes, and enhancing nutrient utilization (Gosai et al., 2023) [10] and (Chaudhary et al., 2026) [7] . In poultry diets, antimicrobial compounds are frequently used as antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) to stimulate growth, control diseases at subtherapeutic antibiotic doses, and treat sick conditions at therapeutic doses The risk of potential drug resistance in human pathogenic bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), multi-drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), a gut bacterium, has led the European Union has banned feed-grade antibiotic growth promoters. Reduced growth performance was the result of not using antibiotics in the diets of the chickens. As a result, there is a great need for natural compounds that improve growth in the same way and have positive effects on the health of chickens.In response to these challenges, the utilization of herbal growth promoters (HGPs) has gained considerable attention as a promising and sustainable alternative to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in commercial broiler production. AGPs have historically been instrumental in achieving these goals by improving feed efficiency, reducing disease prevalence, and promoting overall growth in broiler chickens. However, concerns over the development of antibiotic resistance, potential negative effects on human health and stringent regulatory restrictions have prompted the search for alternative growth-promoting strategies in the poultry industry. HGPs, derived from various medicinal plants and herbs, have exhibited a range of beneficial properties, including immunomodulation, antimicrobial activity and improved digestion. Among these herbal options, Andrographis paniculata, Boerhaavia diffusa, Achyranthus aspera, and Azadirachta indica have emerged as potential candidates for enhancing broiler performance while reducing reliance on antibiotics.

Materials and Methods

A biological experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of herbal growth promoters, namely Andrographis paniculata, Boerhaavia diffusa, Achyranthus aspera, and Azadirachta indica, on the growth performance of broiler chickens from 0 to 6 weeks of age. A total of 420 day-old straight-run Cobb-400 broiler chicks were procured from a commercial hatchery. The chicks were individually weighed, wing-banded, and randomly allocated into seven treatment groups (T 1 -T 7 ), each comprising four replicates with 15 chicks per replicate, resulting in 60 chicks per treatment. The birds were reared under a deep litter system following standard management practices up to six weeks of age. A standard vaccination schedule was implemented throughout the experimental period. The study was carried out at the Department of Livestock Production and Management, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar. All experimental procedures were conducted in accordance with the guidelines approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee of Veterinary College, Bidar, Karnataka, under project proposal No. VCB/IAEC/LPM-09/2023-24. Basal diet + AGP (Enramycin 10%) at 100 g/ton of feed T3

Basal diet + Herbal Growth Promoter (200 g/ton of feed) T4

Basal diet + Herbal Growth Promoter (400 g/ton of feed) T5

Basal diet + Herbal Growth Promoter (600 g/ton of feed) T6

Basal diet + Herbal Growth Promoter (800 g/ton of feed) T7 Basal diet + Herbal Growth Promoter (1000 g/ton of feed)

Herbal growth promoter are Andrographis paniculata, Boerhaavia diffusa, Achyranthus aspera and Azadirachta indica at equal proportion.

Body Weight (Weekly cumulative)

The chicks were weighed individually on day one and at the end of each week for the entire six weeks. Weekly body weight and cumulative body weight were recorded till the end of the trial.

Feed Consumption (Weekly cumulative)

The feed consumption in each replicate was recorded weekly by subtracting the weight of residual feed from the total quantity of feed supplied during the respective week.

Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR)

The feed conversion ratio (FCR) expressed as the relationship between the amount of feed consumed (kg) to the body weight gain (kg) under each treatment of birds was determined. The weekly feed conversion ratio and cumulative feed conversion ratio was calculated at the end of the trial. The FCR was calculated by using the following formula,

FCR (weekly) =

Average feed consumption per bird during the week (kg) Average weight gain per bird during the week (kg) FCR (Cumulative) = Average feed consumption per bird at the end of trial (kg) Average weight gain per bird at the end of trail (kg)

European Production Efficiency Factor (EPEF)

The EPEF was calculated by dividing the product of livability percentage and live weight (kg) by the product of age in days and FCR, and then multiplying the result by 100. The EPEF was calculated by using the following formula,

Results and Discussion

Growth parameters 1 Body weight

The effect of dietary supplementation of herbal growth promoter at different doses on the weekly cumulative body weight of broilers is presented in [13] and (Arify et al., 2019) [3] , supplementation of Boerhavia diffusa (Somvanshi et al., 2020) [21] , supplementation of Achyranthes aspera (Asif et al., 2011) [4] , and combination of herbal growth promoters containg above ingredient ( [20,21,9,15] . The higher cumulative body weight observed in broiler chickens supplemented with herbal growth promoters at 400-600 g/ton of feed could be attributed to several factors such as better nutrient absorption and utilization of feed by improving intestinal morphology, consequently increasing the growth rate of the chickens. The findings suggest that the herbal growth promoters positively influenced broiler performance by enhancing gut health, liver stimulating effect and nutrient utilization, ultimately contributing to higher body weight gain.

Feed consumption

The weekly cumulative feed consumption (g/bird) of broilers supplemented with herbal growth promoter (HGP) at varying doses is presented in Table 3 which shows the significant differences (p<0.05) among treatment groups in most weeks of the study. The birds supplemented with HGP at moderate doses of 400-600 g/ton (T 4 and T 5 ) consumed feed at levels comparable to the antibiotic growth promoter group (T 2 ), reflecting similar appetitive responses. These results of the present study are in agreement with the increased in feed consumption with supplementation of Azadirachta indica (Mahmood et al., 2016) [17] ; Al-Jebory et al., 2023 [1] and Nawaz et al., 2023 [19] , supplementation of Andrographis paniculata (Laing et al., 2013) [13] , supplementation of Boerhavia diffusa (Tomar et al., 2020) [22] , supplementation of Achyranthes aspera (Monika et al., 2017) [18] .

Feed conversion ratio

The weekly cumulative feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broilers fed diets supplemented with herbal growth promoter (HGP) at varying doses is presented in [1,19] , supplementation of Andrographis paniculata (Laing et al., 2013 and Arify et al., 2019) [13,3] , supplementation of Boerhavia diffusa (Somvanshi et al., 2020) [21] , supplementation of Achyranthes aspera (Monika et al., 2017) [18] , and combination of herbal growth promoters containg above ingredient (Nety et al., 2017 and Lonkar et al., 2023) [20,15] .

European production efficiency factor

The mean European production efficiency factor for T 1 , T 2 , T 3 , T 4 , T 5 , T 6 and T 7 group's are 257.41±7.30, 298.48±4.17, 268.88±0.84, 300.00±1.42, 284.83±6.66, 271.96±2.78 and 257.11±3.08 respectively in table 5. Significantly highest (p<0.05) European production efficiency factor were observed in the T 2 and T 4 groups whereas significantly lowest (p<0.05) European production efficiency factor were observed in T 1 (control) group. However, there were no significant difference in mean European production efficiency factor among T 1 (control) and other treatment groups (T 3 , T 6 and T 7 ). Laing et al. 2013 [13] evaluated the effects of Andrographis paniculata and Zingiber cassumunar mixture revealed that productive index had improved higher than the control group in broilers. Lipinski et al. [14] observed that statistical analysis of Superliv (Andrographis paniculata, Azadirachta indica, Achyranthes aspera, Boerhavia diffusa etc) had a beneficial influence on European Efficiency Index (EEI). Lonkar et al. 2023 [15] conducted an experiment on effect of polyherbal liver stimulant containing Andrographis paniculata, Boerhavia diffusa etc on production performance of commercial broiler chickens and observed that polyherbal liver stimulant has improved EPEF by 19.2%.

Conclusion

From the present study, it was found that the supplementation of various levels of herbal growth promoters in broilers had a significant effect on growth performance where T 4 (HGP @ 400 g/ton) recorded the highest cumulative body weight, the best feed conversion ratio, the highest total feed consumption, and the highest European Production Efficiency Factor, all of which were statistically comparable to the AGP group.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementsThe author express their sincere gratitude to Department of Livestock Production and Management Veterinary College Bidar Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar, for providing me with the opportunity, facilities, and support required for the successful completion of this work.

References

1. Al-Jebory HH, Al-Saeedi MKI, Al-Jaryan IL, Al-Khfaji FR. Impact of Neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves powder on growth performance of broiler (Ross 308) exposed to heat stress. Res J Agric Biol Sci. 2023;15(2):1-5.
2. Aminullah N, Mostamand A, Zahir A, Mahaq O, Azizi MN. Phytogenic feed additives as alternatives to antibiotics in poultry production: A review. Vet World. 2025;18(1):141-154.
3. Arify T, Valavan SE, Varun A, Sundaresan A, Manimaran K. Effect of garlic (Allium sativum) and nilavembu (Andrographis paniculata) on growth performance and cost effectiveness of broiler chicken. Indian J Anim Sci. 2019;89:347-352.
4. Asif Q, Chand N, Qureshi S, Akhtar A, Arshad M, Niamatullah M, Malik S. Effect of Putkhanda (Achyranthes aspera) extract on the body weight gain and gross return of broiler chick. Pak J Sci. 2011.
5. BAHS. Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2019. Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Government of India; 2019.
6. BAHS. Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2025. Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India; 2025.
7. Chaudhary JD, Patil SS, Pawar MM, Mohapatra SK, Srivastava AK, Modi CP. Effect of aqueous ginger (Zingiber officinale) extract supplementation on growth performance and production efficiency in broiler chickens. Uttar Pradesh J Zool. 2026;47(2):193-201.
8. Eniwaiye AA, Owolabi SJ, Usetim DM, Sheshi AU. Nutrient digestibility and intestinal morphology of broiler chickens fed graded levels of enzymesupplemented sorghum as replacement for maize. Eur J Sci Res Rev. 2026;4(1):73-73.
9. Giannenas I, Vasilopoulos S, Dokou S, Papagrigoriou T, Ganguly B, Savvidou S, et al. Effects of dietary supplementation with herbal extract as methionine replacer on growth performance, meat composition, oxidative stability and liver gene expression in broiler chickens. Arch Zootech. 2022;25(2):39-62.
10. Gosai AS, Pawar MM, Patil SS, Ankuya KJ, Srivastava AK, Ashwar BK. Effect of pomegranate (Punica granatum) peel powder supplementation on performance, carcass characteristics and haematobiochemical parameters of broiler chickens. Indian J Anim Sci. 2023;93(5):481-486.
11. Hady MM, Zaki MM. Efficacy of some herbal feed additives on performance and control of cecal coccidiosis in broilers. APCBEE Procedia. 2012;4:163168.
12. Ihsan MS, Mushtaq TB, Al-Zuhariy SA, Mutar SS. Impact of supplementation neem powder (Azadirachta indica) to diet broiler in immunological, physiological and productive traits. Adv Environ Biol. 2017;11(3):4451.
13. Laing D, Wongtangtintharn S, Tungjarernkul B, Sirilaophaisan S, Khajarern J. Effects of Andrographis paniculata and Zingiber cassumunar mixture on productive performance and carcass quality of broiler chickens. Int Conf Agric Biotechnol. 2013;60:7.
14. Lipiński K, Antoszkiewicz Z, Kotlarczyk S, MazurKuśnirek M, Kaliniewicz J, Makowski Z. The effect of herbal feed additive on the growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of broiler chickens fed low-energy diets. Arch Anim Breed. 2019;62(1):33-40.
15. Lonkar VD, Kadam AS, Srivastava AA, Chaudhari FN, Dhaygude VS, Tumlam UM, Shinde AK. Effect of polyherbal liver stimulant (Genoliv) on production performance, carcass characteristics, serum biochemistry and immune response in commercial broiler chickens. Indian J Vet Sci Biotechnol. 2023;19(3):49-52.
16. Mahejabin N, Mostofa M, Akter F, Das S, Alam M. Effects of neem, turmeric and papaya leaf extract mixture on growth performance of broilers. Int J Nat Soc Sci. 2015;2(2):17-21.
17. Mahmood S, Hayat K, Yousaf M, Abba G, Rehman A. Comparative effect of Azadirachta indica, Moringa oleifera and Cichorium intybus leaf extracts on growth performance, immune response and carcass characteristics of broilers. Scholar's Adv Anim Vet Res. 2016;3(2):60-65.
18. Monika, Nety S, Wasist U, Chandrakar C, Jaiswal SK, Xalxo D. Influence of dietary supplementation of Achyranthes aspera powder on growth performance and economic production in broiler chicken. Int J Pure Appl Biosci. 2017;5(5):322-326.
19. Nawaz Z, Rashid N, Abbasi BHA, Mastoi AN, Iqbal M, Ud Din S, et al. Evaluating the use of neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves powder as a growth promoter in broiler chicken. Pak-Euro J Med Life Sci. 2023;6(2):63-70.
20. Nety S, Koley KM, Chourasia D, Bandeker SK, Choudhary DK. Influence of dietary supplementation of medicinal plant extracts on growth performance, economics and carcass yield of broiler chickens. Indian Poult Sci Assoc. 2017;52(3):264-268.
21. Somvanshi SPS, Gupta R, Kaur N, Kumar A, Pandey NK. Effect of herbal liver stimulants on growth and performance of broiler chicks. Indian J Ext Educ. 2020;56(1):69-72.
22. Tomar RS, Baghel RPS, Nayak S, Khare A, Sharma R. Effect of feeding of Boerhaavia diffusa on performance, nutrient utilization, carcass traits and economics in broiler production. Intas Polivet. 2020;21(2):518-521.