Effect of honey-flavoured diets on the performance and relative organ weights of finisher broiler chickens

A 28-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of honey-flavoured diets on performance, nutrient retention, organ weights and economy of production. 0ne hundred and twenty 4-weeks old 'Anak 2000' broiler chicks were randomly allotted to four treatments, replicated three times with 10 birds each in a completely randomized design (CRD). Four diets were formulated such that diet 1(0%) contained no honey and served as the control, while diets 2, 3 and 4 contained 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% honey-flavour, respectively. The results showed that diet 4 containing 1.5% honey flavour significantly (P < 0.05) improved the final body weight (1977g), weight gain (1327g), daily weight gain (47.29), feed/gain (2.18) and protein efficiency ratio (2.16) than broiler fed other diets including the control. Broilers on the control diet had the least values of body weight gain (1754g), weight gain (1104g), daily weight gain (39.43g), worst feed/gain (2.59) and protein efficiency ratio (1.80). Broilers fed diet 4 had the highest (P<0.05) nutrient retention of protein (83.80 %), ether extract (86.80%) and crude fibre (70.50%) while broilers on the control diet had the lowest retention values of protein (65.20%), crude fibre (63.30%) and ether extract (73.70%). The dry matter retentions were similar across the treatments with highest numerical values of 82.80% recorded by birds on diet 4 and least value of 78.80% on diet 1(control). The liver, heart, lungs, kidney and caecum weights did not differ significantly (P>0.05) across the treatments but were numerically higher with increased in the honey-flavoured diets. The gizzard and caecum weights were significantly (P<0.05) increased with increase in honey flavoured diets. Cost per kg feed increased as the level of honey-flavoured inclusion in the diets increased 1.5 % with value of ? 58.00/kg compared to the control diet with ? 47.01/kg while the revenue generated showed that birds fed diet 4 (1.5% honey) were the most economical to produce with value of ? 597.15/bird compared with those on the control (? 496.80/bird). Addition of honey at 1.5% demonstrated superiority in this study with no adverse effect on bird's performance and organ. Keywords: honey, additive, supplementation, broiler, performance, orga