Influence of Aloe Vera Powder on the Growth Performance and Cost Benefit Analysis of Starter Broiler Birds

Background and Objective: Synthetic feed additives usually come along with numerous side effects and zoonotic impacts on the end consumers. This can be corrected by the use of natural plants which have properties similar to the work done by the synthetic substances in these animals. The research work was carried out to determine the influence of Aloe vera powder on the growth performance and cost-benefit analysis of starter broiler birds. Materials and Methods: The 96 day old ‘Rose 308’ strains of broilers were used for the research work. The day-old chicks were brooded for a week and thereafter selected into four treatment groups of twenty-four each and replicated three times with eight birds per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Four different diets were compounded such that Aloe vera powder was included at the rate of 0, 0.50, 1.00 and 1.50% corresponding to treatments 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Feed and water were given ad-libitum throughout the experimental period of 21 days. Results: Proximate analysis of Aloe vera powder showed that it has a dry matter content of 93.58 and 6.42% moisture, 10.42% crude protein, 6.45% crude fiber, 2.03% ether extract, 18.77% ash and 55.915% carbohydrates. Birds on control diets were superior to the birds in other treatments in terms of final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Birds in treatment 1 (0% avp) had better results in terms of performance when compared to the treatment groups fortified with Aloe vera. The result of the cost-benefit analysis showed that the bird in treatment 4 had a superior (p<0.05) benefit/profit of 471.99 when compared to the control with a value of 440.47. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the inclusion of Aloe vera powder in the diet of broiler birds at the starter phase is viable up to a level of 1.50% with the best performance observed in treatment 1 (control).