MAHARASHTRA ANIMAL AND FISHERY SCIENCES UNIVERSITY ,NAGPUR
EFFICACY OF SOME HERBAL FORMULATIONS
FOR PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF SYNTHETIC
METHIONINE IN BROILER FEEDS
GUIDED BY
PREPARED BY Dr. S. J. MANWAR
NEHA D. RATHOD HEAD, DEPARTMENT OF POULTRY
SCIENCE
POST GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES ,AKOLA
INTRODUCTION
• Poultry in recent years has been the fastest growing sector of Indian
agriculture.
• Indian poultry sector has the potential to grow at the rate of more
than 20 per cent per year (Mohapatra, 2005).
• India ranks 5th in the world in broiler production next to USA, China,
Brazil and Mexico.
• The cost of broiler production is increasing and today it is the major
concern for the Indian poultry industry.
• The modern broiler selection programme have evolved rapidly
growing broilers with low feed consumption and high meat yielding
strains.
• The use of some herbal feed additive may be a way for decreasing the
feed cost and FCR, ultimately reducing the cost of production.
• Methionine is essential for various vital functions in body
such as: protein synthesis, regulation of cell division, methyl
donor, reduces reactive oxygen species etc.
• Methionine may act as a lipotropic agent
(Young et al., 1955).
• Synthetic methionine is metabolized into highly toxic
compounds such as methylpropionate (Bender, 1975).
• Synthetic methionine is listed among the prohibited
synthetic substances and its usage has been questioned in
organic farming practices.
• Methiorep is prepared from specially selected methionine-
rich plant materials that harmoniously meet the
requirements for methionine in poultry diets.
• It supplies methionine via a sustained-release of peptides
and oligopeptides forms along with enzymes required for the
conversion of methionine into SAM s-adenosyl methionine.
• Supplementation of methionine with this phyto-additive
made from herbs have been scientifically proven to ensure
efficient nutrient and energy utilization, reduction in feather
pecking and better performance of birds (Bishnol, 2008)
• The supplementation of methionine, as essential amino acid
in diet showed optimum weight gain and feed conversion
efficiency.
• Dietary supplements of methionine found to increase the
breast meat and decreased abdominal fat in growing broiler
chickens.
• Thus, a premix comprising of herbal methionine is possible
which can increase the bio-availability of all the nutrients
and will help in reducing the negative effects of synthetic and
inorganic sources used under normal conditions.
• Herbal methionine can be used in place of synthetic DL-methionine with a
better performance.
• The better efficacy of herbal methionine is due to higher bioavailability and
bioactivity as compared to synthetic DL-methionine and it is economical too.
• The use of herbal methionine will avoid the import of synthetic methionine
from other countries which is very commercial.
• However, the reports of investigation regarding efficiency of herbal
methionine in improving the production performance of broilers are scanty.
• Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of feed
supplementation of herbal methionine in broilers with the following
objectives.
OBJECTIVES
To study the efficacy of herbal methionine.
To study the effect of herbal methionine supplementation on
growth performance of broilers.
To study the effect of herbal methionine supplementation on
haemato-biochemical parameters.
EXPERIMENTAL PLAN
TOTAL NO. OF BIRDS : 420
NO OF TREATMENTS : 07 (Herbal methionine
preparations at different doses)
NO OF REPLICATES/TREATMENT : 03
NO OF BIRDS /REPLICATE : 20
DURATION OF TRIAL : 6 wks
Table 1. Details of Dietary Treatments
Treatment groups Dietary treatment No. of birds
1. Control - without methionine 60
2. DL-Methionine @ 0.12 % 60
3. DL-Methionine @ 0.2 %
4. DL-Methionine @ 0.12 % + Methiorep 0.08 % 60
5. DL-Methionine @ 0.12 % + 60
0-14 days: 2.4 ml Liquid Methiorep
14-28 days: 4.8 ml Liquid Methiorep
28-35 days: 9.6 ml liquid Methiorep
6. DL-Methionine @ 0.12 % + Methiorep A @0.08 % 60
7. DL-Methionine @ 0.12 % + Methiorep B @ 0.08 % 60
Methiorep- Herbal methionine
• COMPOSITION:
• Methiorep contains synergistic mixture of: Allium Cepa, Cicer
arietinum, Phaseolus, Triticum and Glycine.
Table 2. Ingredrientcomposition of Basal Diets.
Sr. No. Ingredients (%) Pre-starter Starter Finisher
1. Maize 53.25 53.97 58.61
2. Soybean meal 40.27 38.00 32.53
3. Vegetable Oil 2.74 4.30 5.00
4. Dicalcium Phosphate (DCP) 1.80 1.90 2.00
5. Limestone Powder (LSP) 1.20 1.20 1.20
6. Salt 0.35 0.30 0.30
7. Trace Min. Pre. 0.15 0.15 0.15
8. Vitamin pre. 0.02 0.02 0.02
9. L-Lysine 0.06 0.00 0.03
10. Choline chloride 60% 0.06 0.06 0.06
11. Toxin binder 0.05 0.05 0.05
12. Coccidiostat 0.05 0.05 0.05
TOTAL 100.00 100.00 100.00
Table 3. Nutrient composition of basal diets.
Sr. No. Nutrients (%) Pre starter Starter Finisher
1.
Crude protein 23.01 22.03 20.00
2.
Calcium 1.00 1.09 1.02
3.
Avl. Phosphorus 0.46 0.45 0.46
4.
Lysine 1.31 1.20 1.10
5.
ME (Kcal/kg) 2991.91 3097.12 3183.80
PARAMETERS STUDIED
1. Weekly live body weight gain
2. Weekly body weight gain
3. Weekly feed consumption
4. Weekly feed conversion ratio
5. Mortality (%)
6. Haematological parameters
7. Serum parameter
Results
Table 4. Growth performance of broilers supplemented with herbal methionine
replacing synthetic methionine
PARAMETR
S
Treatments groups
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
FINAL 2453.70± 2781.67 2772.23 2814.46 2802.78 2749.66 2690.86
WEIGHT 38.27b ±42.46a ±49.03a ± 49.29a ±46.65a ±46.99a ±58.07a
[g]
FEED 4029.51 4163.49 4075.47 4147.26 4263.11 4268.02 4187.29
INTAKE ±106.46 ±7.97 ± 80.35 ±117.53 ±76.05 ±48.34 ±39.10
[g]
1.70 1.52 1.49 1.50 1.53 1.58 1.58
FCR ±0.04a ±0.03b ±0.02b ± 0.06b ± 0.02b ± 0.02b ± 0.01b
Means bearing different superscripts differ significantly, P<0.05)
• Treatment groups 3 and 4 receiving DL-methionine and herbal
methionine at 40% level recorded significantly higher body weights.
• Treatment groups 3 and 4 receiving DL-methionine and herbal
methionine at 40% level recorded increased feed intake.
• The broilers fed diets containing herbal methionine at 40% level as
powder form as well as liquid form recorded significantly higher
FCR.
Table 5. Hematological parameters in broilers supplemented with herbal
methionine replacing synthetic methionine
Param- TREATMENT GROUPS
eters
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Haemog- 8.83± 8.83± 8.17± 8.43± 8.43± 8.23± 8.47±
lobin gm% 0.12 0.32 0.20 0.22 0.33 0.13 0.08
PCV 27.13± 27.33± 24.56± 27.46± 25.23± 25.77± 26.67±
% 0.81 1.33 1.16 1.17 1.24 0.78 0.49
• Haematological parameters were
comparable in different dietary
treatment groups.
• It indicates no adverse effects of herbal
methionine supplementation in place
of synthetic methionine.
Table 5. Serum biochemical parameters in broilers supplemented with
herbal methionine replacing synthetic methionine
PARAME- TREATMENT GROUPS
TERS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Total serum 2.98 3.05± 0.02 2.99 2.87 3.14 2.93 3.04
protein
(g/dl)
±0.06 ± 0.17 ± 0.04 ± 0.17 ± 0.26 ± 0.13
Albumin 1.36 1.30 1.44 1.29 1.44 1.51 1.31
(g/dl)
± 0.17 ± 0.08 ± 0.16 ± 0.10 ± 0.04 ± 0.1 ± 0.02
Cholesterol 131.30 97.0± 77.37 69.61 81.37 86.66 82.61
(mg/dl)
±21.15a 16.93b ± 2.62b ± 3.40b ± 9.21b ± 2.17b ± 3.99b
TRIGLYCERID 94.80 88.10 70.82 79.22 100.77 80.43 88.08
E [mg/dl]
±12.16 ±6.13 ±3.86 ±13.12 ±9.06 ±2.51 ±1.64
GLUCOSE 163.94 207.83 167.45 195.17 205.46 192.45 227.31
[mg/dl]
±7.25 ±5.84 ±2.72 ±24.06 ±25.97 ±15.04 ±20.18
Means bearing different superscripts differ significantly, P<0.05)
• The total serum cholesterol content was decreased in herbal
methionine supplemented groups which confirms beneficial health
promoting effects in broilers.
• The serum total protein, albumin and globulin content remained
unchanged among different groups.
CONCLUSIONS
The broilers supplemented with herbal methionine recorded
significantly higher body weight, improved FCR and reduced
cholesterol than control.
• Thus, the results suggested that herbal formulation for
partial replacement of synthetic methionine
supplementation in diets was found beneficial to enhance
geowth performance in broilers and found to be
economically beneficial as it reduces feed cost.
