Comparative efficacy of citric acid, Spirulina platensis, and their combination as alternatives to an antibiotic growth promoter on the performances of broilers.

Objective: A 35-day-long trial was conducted to compare the consequences of supplementing citric acid (CA), , and their combination as natural substitutes for antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) on the productive performance, dressing percentage, and blood serum metabolites of broilers.

Materials And Methods: A total of 150-day-old Cobb-500 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 5 dietary treatment groups, each having 30 chicks in it (10 chicks per replicate cage). The dietary groups were as follows: 1- Control (corn-soybean-based), 2- Control + antibiotic (Enrofloxacin, 10 mg/kg bodyweight), 3- Control + 1% , 4- Control + 0.5% CA, and 5- Control + 1% spirulina + 0.5% CA. Starting from day 7 up to day 21, antibiotics were administered via water; spirulina and CA were offered via feed.

Results: When compared to the control, all dietary supplements significantly (p < 0.05) improved broiler growth performance. However, dressing characteristics and serum metabolites (serum creatinine, albumin, and uric acid) were not influenced ( > 0.05) by dietary changes, except cholesterol level ( 0.05). Supplementation with antibiotics, CA, and spirulina produced comparable results. Among them, the CA-fed group recorded the highest live weight, weight gain, feed intake, improved feed conversion ratio, and the lowest serum cholesterol level (106.5 mg/dl). The combination group performed better than the control, but not as well as their single supplementations.

Conclusions: CA and might both be good candidates as natural alternatives to AGP (Enrofloxacin). But, among them, CA performed better in terms of production performance.