Production performance and carcass characteristics of broiler treated with graded level of acetic acid

To investigate the effect of graded level of acetic acid on the production performance and carcass characteristics of broiler, present study was conducted for a period of 35 days in a controlled shed. A total of 240 Cobb 500 day old broiler chicks were divided into four dietary treatment groups (T0, T1, T2 and T3), each group with three replications and each replication having 20 birds. Control group (T0) birds were fed with the basal diet without any acetic acid. Birds of T1, T2 and T3 group were treated with 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3% acetic acid in drinking water, respectively along with basal diets. Recorded data were analysed in SPSS software by using ANOVA and significance level was considered as 5%. Results showed that, acetic acid has significantly (P<0.05) improved live weight, live weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and some meat characteristics (carcass weight, thigh weight and breast weight) of experimental broilers. However, there were no significant (P>0.05) differences were observed between control group and acetic acid treated groups of birds in terms of feed intake, dressing percentage, liver weight, heart weight and abdominal fat. Net profit was higher in birds treated with acetic acid than the control group and the best performances were observed in the birds treated with 0.3% acetic acid. Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.8(3): 311-319, December 2021