Valoracion nutricional y productiva de dos promotores de crecimiento en broiler en etapa de inicio y desarrollo

Abstract

The present study addressed the problems associated with the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed, highlighting the risks of antibiotics resistance and it adverse impact on human and animal health. Faced with this challenge, an alternative was proposed involving the use of hypocaloric and hypoprotein diets supplemented with essential oils, in order to minimize dependence on antibiotics and explore safer and more sustainable options for broiler growth. The general objective of the study was to evaluate nutritionally and productively two growth promoters in broiler during the initiation and development stages, using hypocaloric and hypoprotein diets. The methodology implemented included an experimental design carried out at Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, where the effects of a commercial antibiotic and a commercial essential oil were compared in the feeding of 150 Ross 308 birds, distributed in three treatments with five replicates each. The results revealed that the essential oil treatment (T2) outperformed the antibiotic treatment and the control group in terms of final weight and chick weight gain. However, no significant differences were observed in feed conversion, feed consumption, livability, carcass yield and localized fat between treatments. The economic analysis showed that the treatment with essential oil presented the best benefit/cost indicator. It was concluded that the use of essential oil as a growth promoter in hypocaloric and hypoprotein diets constituted a viable alternative to antibiotics, significantly improving broiler productive performance. As recommendations, it was suggested to replicate the study with different protein and energy levels, to explore other extracts as alternatives to antibiotics and to limit the use of these diets exclusively for research purposes, given their hypocaloric and hypoprotein nature.