Vol. 9, Issue 11, Part D (2025)

This study aimed to assess the Effect of early feeding regimen involving synbiotics on feed intake, body weight and return over feed cost of broiler chicks. A total of 144 day-old chicks were randomly assigned to four treatment groups, each comprising 9 birds per replicate, with 4 replicates per group. The treatment groups included Control group, birds received synbiotics in water and pre-starter feed upon arrival at the farm for 24 hours. The Negative Control group received water and pre-starter feed without synbiotics. In the Treatment Transport group, birds got synbiotics via beak dip at the hatchery and continued with synbiotics at the farm for 24 hours. In the Treatment On-farm group (OF), birds received pre-starter feed and water with synbiotics immediately after hatching on the farm for 24 hours. The results indicated that OF showed significantly higher (p<0.05) feed consumption and dry matter intake compared to other groups. Body weight and body weight gain was numerically higher in OF group, while FCR was improved (p>0.05) in Treatment Transport compared to other treatments. The Return on Feed Cost (ROFC) in terms of Rs./bird and Rs./kg broiler bird was numerically higher in the Transport group compared to Control, Negative Control and OF.