Effect of dried orange peel powder on growth performance of Giriraja poultry birds

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of dried orange peel powder on growth performance of Giriraja poultry birds. A total 150 day-old Giriraja poultry birds randomly assigned to 5 dietary treatments namely T1 basal diet (control), T2 (1% DOPP), T3 (2% DOPP), T4 (3% DOPP), T5 (4% DOPP). Each treatment consisted of 3 replications with 10 birds per replication reared, for 7th week of age. The experimental birds reared up to 7th week of age. This result indicated that live body weight and body weight gain were influence by dried orange peel powder, with non-significant differences observed in the 1st week of age (p>0.05) and significant variations from the 2nd week onwards (p<0.05). The supplementation of DOPP at T2 (1%) and T3 (2%) resulted in higher live body weight and body weight gain from second week onwards up to the seventh week of age. Moreover, a reducing trend was observed with 3% and 4% DOPP in treatments T4 and T5, respectively. These results indicated that 1% DOPP was the optimum level with respect to live body weight and body weight gain.The feed conversion ratio was significantly different throughout the experimental period, except in the first week (p<0.05). The T1 group (control) consistently exhibited the highest values, whereas T2 maintained the lowest across most weeks, confirming its effectiveness in enhancing feed utilization efficiency. These results clearly indicated that dietary inclusion of 1% DOPP did not have negative effects and beneficial for Giriraja poultry birds.