Pantnagar Journal of Research

Abstract

A study was conducted to find out the effect of supplementation of black cumin seeds on growth performance and haematological parameters of commercial broilers. One hundred twenty day-old broiler chicks were randomly allotted into four treatment with three replicates of ten chicks each and fed with basal diet (T 1), basal diet + black cumin seeds @ 0.5%, (T2), basal diet + black cumin seeds @ 0.75%, (T 3) and basal diet + black cumin seeds @ 1.0% respectively for 42 days period. At the end of the experiment on 42 nd days two birds from each replicate (six birds/treatment) were randomly sacrificed for estimate of haematological parameters. The result of the experiment indicated that dietary inclusion of black cumin seeds in broiler chicken increased body weight gain, decreased feed intake and improved feed convers ion ratio (FCR) significantly (P<0.05) with best performance during all the periods was noted in group supplemented with 0.5 per cent of black cumin seeds. Among haematological parameters, TEC, TLC, PCV and Hb showed significant difference among treatment groups as compared to control group. On the basis of present study it can be concluded that black cumin seeds as an additive to broiler chicken feed @ 0.5-1.0 per cent level may be recommended to improve the growth performance and Haematological parameters in broiler chicken.