ABSTRACT
A feeding trial was conducted to discern the effect of dietary incorporation of aniseed and ginger rhizome powder on growth performance and nutrient utilization in commercial broiler chickens. A total of 120, day-old broiler chicks were divided randomly into 4 treatment groups with 3 replicates each i.e. 10 broiler chicks per replicate. The feeding trial lasted for 42 days viz., A metabolism trial was conducted during the 6th week of feeding trial to know the nutrient utilization. During the starter phase, maximum weight gain was recorded in broiler chicks of treatment group T3 (827.70 g) fed diet incorporated with 1.0% ginger rhizome powder followed by treatment groups T1, T2 and T4, however, there was no significant difference in body weight gain amongst the different treatment groups. During finisher phase, the average body weight gain was 1313.50, 1365.32, 1308.20 and 1291.36 g in broiler chicks of treatment groups T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively and did not differ significantly among different groups. During entire feeding trial period (0-42 days), incorporation of aniseed and ginger rhizome powder in the basal diets non-significantly improved growth performance in terms of body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and performance index. The average cumulative body weight gain was 2120.57, 2152.75, 2135.90 and 2064.43 g in broiler chicks of treatment groups T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively and did not differ significantly among different groups. There was no significant difference in nutrient utilization among different treatment groups of broiler chickens