Growth Performance and Nutrient Digestibility of Broiler Chickens Fed with Mannan-Oligosaccharide and Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Peel Powder

The present study was conducted to assess the effect of mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) and pomegranate (Punica granatum) peel powder (PPP) on the growth performance and nutrient digestibility of broiler chickens. Two hundred and forty (N=240) day old commercial Vencobb 400 broiler chicks were randomly distributed into 4 groups of 3 replicates. Dietary treatment groups were as follows: T0 (Control; basal diet), T1 (basal diet + 0.1% MOS), T2 (basal diet + 0.6% PPP) and T3 (basal diet + 0.9% PPP). Results of the study showed significantly higher body weight, total gain in body weight, FCR, broiler performance efficiency index in T1 and T3 groups; whereas, feed intake (g/bird) did not differ among the groups. Supplemented groups showed significant results in CP metabolizability, EE digestibility, N retention. It was observed that 0.1% MOS and 0.9% PPP had better performance in respect of gain in weight, FCR and nutrient digestibility of broiler chickens.