Effect of Powdered Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus) as Feed Supplement on the Growth Performance of Native Chicken

This study was conducted to determine the growth performance of the native chicken using different levels of powdered lemon grass as feed supplement in the diet. The study utilized 128 unsexed native chickens were randomly distributed into 4 experimental treatments with 4 replications and 8 birds per treatment using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The different levels of powdered lemon grass in treatments were T1 (Control) – 0%, T2 –1%, T3 –1.5%, and T4 - 2.5% powdered lemon grass, respectively. The results revealed that there is no significant difference in the body weight gain and feed conversion ratio of the native chicken among the experimental animals. In the feed consumption, there is a highly significant difference among the treatment mean during week 2 and 8, and significant difference on week 4, 11 and 12. These findings suggest that the inclusion of powdered lemongrass influenced the feed consumption of the chickens, particularly in certain periods of the study. This implies that while powdered lemongrass, particularly at 1%, appeared to enhance feed consumption during specific weeks. In terms of the average daily gain, results revealed a significant difference only in week 14. The result suggests that while the inclusion of powdered lemongrass in the diet did not significantly affect ADG during the early and middle stages of growth, it exhibited a notable positive effect in the later stages. This indicate a cumulative or delayed impact of lemongrass supplementation on growth performance, which becomes evident as the birds approach maturity. Based on the findings stated above, it can be concluded that the body weight, feed consumption, FCR and ADG of the experimental birds were affected by the different inclusion levels of powdered lemon grass. Inclusion of 1% lemon grass powder in feedstuff is recommended as it enhanced the overall growth performance of native chickens.