Abstract

The feeding experiment assessed an additive influence of fermented tamarind bark supplementation on the growth, carcass traits, and organ weight characteristics of Cobb 500 broilers. The tamarind bark was manually harvested and fermented to produce fermented tamarind bark (FTB). The FTB was chemically analysed and 240 broilers were partitioned into 4 treatments (n= 60) and 4 replicates (n = 15). Broilers received FTB additive at 0 (FTB0), 0.5 (FTB0.5), 0.5 (FTB1.0) and 1.5 (FTB1.5) g/kg for 42 days in a completely randomised design. Feed intake, average daily gain (ADG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) data were collected for a period of 42 days, and carcass and organ characteristics were determined upon slaughter at the 42nd day of the study. Broilers in FTB0.5 group consumed more feed compared to broilers on diet FTB0 during the starter production phase. Weights of spleen and abdominal fat in FTP1.5 group were higher than those in FTB0 and FTB0.5 groups (P < 0.05). Higher (P < 0.05) heart and proventriculus weights were returned for broilers in FTB0.5 group. Dietary FTB supplementation had quadratic effect on feed intake, abdominal fat, spleen, proventriculus and heart weights. Results also indicated that other growth, carcasses, and organ parameters measured were not affected by FTP supplementation. It is therefore concluded that FTB supplementation positively influenced growth performance, carcass and organ characteristics of the Cobb 500 broilers.