Effect of Dietary Inclusion of Ginger ( Zingiber officinale ) and Garlic ( Allium sativum ) Oil Mixture on the Growth Performance and Caecal Microbial Population of Broiler Chickens

The objective of the present study was to determine effect of dietary inclusion of ( Zingiber officinale ) and garlic ( Allium sativum ) oil mixture (GIGM) on the growth performance and caecal microbial population of broiler chickens. One hundred and fifty one-day-old broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allocated into 5 treatments with three replicates consisting of 10 birds each in a completely randomized design. Birds in treatment 1 (T1) was fed basal diet with 0 % inclusion of GIGM while T2, T3, T4 and T5 were given 0.1 %, 0.2 %, 0.3 % and 0.4 % respectively. Clean feed and water were offered ad libitum and all other management practices were strictly observed throughout the experiment which lasted for 56 days. Results obtained were used to determine weight gain (WG), average daily weight gain (ADWG), total feed intake (TFI), average daily feed intake (ADFI), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and microbial population of E.coli , Salmonella spp and Lactobacillus spp. ADWG, ADFI and FCR were significantly (P ˂ 0.05) influenced by the dietary inclusion of GIGM. ADWG were highest in T5 (47.80 g), T4 (45.75 g) and T3 (45.09 g), intermediate in T2 (39.59 g) and lowest in T1 (30.72 g). Lactobacillus spp increased as the level of dietary inclusion of GIGM increases (P ˂ 0.05). E.coli and Salmonella spp counts were significantly (P ˂ 0.05) different among the treatments. It was concluded that GIGM could be included in the diet of broilers up to 0.4 % without causing any deleterious effect on the performance and health of birds.