Effect of different forms of garlic (Allium sativum) supplementation on growth performance, feed and water intake of grampriya breed of poultry

Introduction

Poultry production in India has developed into an organised and technology-intensive sector, with increasing demand for affordable animal protein. Grampriya is a medium-sized poultry breed suited to rural, backyard and semi-intensive production systems and is adapted to the agro-climatic conditions of Maharashtra (Singh, 2011) [16] . The increasing emphasis on antibiotic-free poultry production has stimulated interest in phytogenic feed additives. Garlic is one of the promising botanical additives because it contains alliin, which is converted to allicin by alliinase when the tissue is crushed. Garlic and its bioactive compounds have been associated with antimicrobial, antioxidant and growth-promoting effects (Puvaca et al., 2015; Rehman and Munir, 2015) [12,13] . Previous studies have reported improved growth and feed efficiency with garlic supplementation, although the response depends on the form and inclusion level. Onibi et al. (2009) [10] , Fadalla et al. (2010) [4] and Atuahene et al. (2013) [1] reported positive growth responses to garlic, while Tanti et al. (2015) [18] found garlic powder superior to fresh and black garlic for final body weight. Senthilkumar et al. (2015) [15] also reported improved growth performance and feed efficiency with garlic powder. The Grampriya study of Barkade et al. (2024) [2] similarly showed superior tenth-week body weight and feed conversion in the best-performing dietary treatment. Water intake may also vary with feed composition and additive characteristics. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to compare fresh garlic, garlic powder, black garlic powder and their combination in Grampriya poultry. Objectives 1. To study the effect of different forms of garlic on growth performance of Grampriya breed of poultry. 2. 2. To determine the effect of different forms of garlic on feed and water intake in different treatment groups. Weekly live body weight and weight gain were recorded up to 10 weeks. Weekly feed and water consumption were recorded and expressed as g/bird/week and ml/bird/week, respectively. Feed conversion ratio was calculated as feed consumed divided by weekly body-weight gain. The observations were subjected to analysis of variance appropriate to a Completely Randomised Design, and treatment means were compared using the critical difference (CD) at the 5 per cent level of significance following Snedecor and Cochran (1994) [17] .

Results and Discussion 1. Growth performance 1.1 Weekly live body weight

The weekly live body weight of Grampriya birds differed little among treatments during the first five weeks, but treatment effects became significant from the sixth week onward. At ten weeks, T 3 (3 per cent garlic powder) recorded the highest live body weight of 1434.39 g, followed by T 1 (1414.77 g), T 4 (1386.57 g), T 2 (1378.91 g) and T 5 (1367.63 g). Thus, garlic powder was the only form that produced a numerical improvement over the control, although the final difference between T 3 and T 1 was not significant. The result agrees with Onibi et al. (2009) [10] , Fadalla et al. (2010) [4] , Atuahene et al. (2013) [1] and Tanti et al. (2015) [18] , who reported improved body weight with garlic supplementation, particularly garlic powder. The pattern also agrees with Barkade et al. (2024) [2] , who observed that the best-performing Grampriya treatment had the highest tenth-week body weight. Weekly weight gain followed the general pattern of live body weight. Treatment differences were non-significant from the second to the sixth week and became significant from the seventh week onward. Cumulative gain from the second to the tenth week was highest in T 3 (1348.52 g), followed by T 1 (1330.09 g), T 4 (1301.96 g), T 2 (1295.53 g) and T 5 (1285.04 g). The improved response to garlic powder may be related to better utilisation of nutrients and the biological activity of garlic constituents. Similar positive effects of garlic powder on growth have been reported by Patel et al. (2014) [11] and Senthilkumar et al. (2015) [15] .

Feed and water intake 2.1 Cumulative feed consumption

The effect of garlic form on weekly feed consumption was non-significant (P>0.05) throughout the experimental period except in the fourth week, when intake was lowest in T 3 (210.50 g) and highest in T 2 (222.35 g). Cumulative feed consumption over ten weeks was highest in T 1 (2990.96 g/bird) and lowest in T 3 (2962.35 g/bird), with T 2 (2976.46 g), T 4 (2977.93 g) and T 5 (2970.87 g) intermediate; the spread of 28.61 g between the extremes was well within the critical difference of 79.79 g and the treatments were therefore statistically at par. The fact that T 3 consumed the least cumulative feed while producing the highest final body weight indicates improved feed utilisation rather than increased voluntary feed intake. This observation is in agreement with reports that botanical additives can improve feed efficiency without necessarily increasing feed intake (Islam et al., 2017; Senthilkumar et al., 2015; Kumar et al., 2019; Namdeo et al., 2024) [5,7,9,15] .

Cumulative water consumption

Cumulative water consumption was highest in T 4 (7156.63 ml/bird), followed by T 2 (7134.85 ml), T 3 (6963.95 ml), T 1 (6858.25 ml) and T 5 (6762.10 ml). Cumulative intake did not differ significantly among treatments during the first two weeks (P>0.05); significant differences (P<0.05) appeared from the third week and persisted to the tenth. Throughout this later phase T 2 (fresh garlic) and T 4 (black garlic powder) consistently recorded the highest water intake, while T 5 recorded the lowest, falling below even the control at the ninth and tenth weeks. The greater water consumption of the fresh and black garlic groups may be associated with the moisture content and the pungent, thirst-inducing sulphur compounds of these forms. Conversely, the lower intake in T 5 was consistent with its lower feed intake and final body weight. Islam et al. (2017) [5] reported no significant difference in water intake of broilers given a botanical additive, while Samale (2004) [14] and Dayat et al.

(2023) [3] observed that the water requirement of birds is closely linked to the quantity and composition of the feed and additive consumed.

Feed conversion ratio

The overall feed conversion ratio was most efficient in T 3 (2.07), followed by T 1 (2.12), T 4 (2.16), T 2 (2.17) and T 5 (2.18). Against the critical difference of 0.07, T 3 was significantly superior to T 2 , T 4 and T 5 , but remained at par with the control. Weekly feed conversion ratios did not differ significantly during the second, third and fifth weeks, whereas significant differences (P<0.05) were recorded in the fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth weeks. From the sixth to the ninth week T 3 consistently recorded the most favourable (lowest) conversion, in keeping with its high body weight and comparatively low feed intake; in the tenth week, however, T 4 (2.17) and T 1 (2.18) were numerically the most efficient, closely followed by T 3 (2.20), while T 2 (2.22) and T 5 (2.24) were the least efficient. T 5 recorded the poorest conversion in five of the nine weeks analysed, confirming that feeding the three forms together at 1 per cent each brought no additive gain in feed efficiency. The improved feed conversion in the garlic powder group agrees with Senthilkumar et al. (2015) [15] , Karangiya et al. (2016) [6] and Makwana et al. (2019) [8] .

Mortality

Overall mortality was 4.0 per cent. Mortality was 5.0 per cent in T 1 , 2.5 per cent each in T 2 , T 3 and T 5 , and 7.5 per cent in T 4 . Because only one to three birds died in individual treatment groups, the observed differences should be interpreted cautiously. The overall level remained below the approximately 7 per cent mortality reported for Grampriya up to ten weeks under semi-intensive conditions (Singh, 2011) [16] .

Conclusion

Among the forms tested, garlic powder at 3 per cent of the diet gave the best overall growth performance and feed utilisation in Grampriya birds. It produced the highest tenthweek live body weight (1434.39 g), the lowest cumulative feed intake (2962.35 g/bird) and the best overall FCR (2.07). Garlic supplementation did not appreciably depress voluntary feed intake, while water intake varied according to the form of garlic. The results indicate that garlic powder was the most promising form for improving biological performance under the conditions of the present experiment.

References

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