Effect of black seeds, African nutmeg and Negro pepper on carcass characteristics and organoleptic properties of broiler chickens

The use of herbs and spices as natural feed additives in poultry diets has increased due to their ability to improve growth without the use of synthetic antibiotics. A total of 224 one-day old Arbor acre strain of broiler chickens were used to evaluate the effect of three herbal feed additives (black seed, African nutmeg and Negro pepper) as growth promoters in place of conventional antibiotics in the diet. The birds were randomly assigned to 7 treatments consisting of 4 replicates with 8 birds each in a completely randomized design experiment. Data were collected on carcass-organs characteristics and organoleptic properties of broiler chickens. The data were subjected to analysis of variance using SPSS version 25 and significant means were separated using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test of the same software. Vaccines were given to the birds in all treatments. The treatments were T1 - control (0% additives but given conventional antibiotics), T2 - 0.5% black seed, T3 - 1.0% black seed, T4 - 0.5% African nutmeg, T5 - 1.0% African nutmeg, T6 - 0.5% Negro pepper, T7 - 1.0% Negro pepper. The inclusion of the phyto-additives had significant (P < 0.05) effect on carcass, organ and the sensory evaluation. However, at 0.5% inclusion level, the three phyto-additive did not have effect on the spleen and heart which indicates that this inclusion levels may not cause any detrimental effects on the organs of the birds but at 1% inclusion level, there was a slight increase in the organs which reflects the effects of high level of phytochemicals. It was concluded that inclusion of the three phyto-additives at 0.5% improved carcass quality parameters, reduces the abdominal fat and had no deleterious effect on the internal organs of the birds.