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Dietary inclusion of various phytogenic additives has been used as alternative growth promoters in poultry. They enhance performance and stabilize health status of farm animals. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of inclusion of ginger powder to the diets of pre starter and starter turkeys at different levels (0g/kg, 2g/kg and 4g/kg) on its performance and some blood parameters. A total of one hundred and twenty day- old British United Turkey (BUT) poults were allotted on weight equalization basis into the 3 dietary treatments in a complete randomised design. Forty poults were assigned to each treatment group replicated four times with 10 poults per replicate. The study lasted for 56 days comprising of the prestarter (0-28 days) and starter (29-56 days) phases. At the pre-starter phase of the experiment, growth performance was not affected (p>0.05) by ginger powder inclusion while the starter phase showed improved (p<0.05) final weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Final weight increased (p<0.05) with ginger inclusion in the diets, while feed intake reduced linearly as ginger inclusion increased. Supplementation with ginger reduced haemoglobin and RBC of the pre starter turkeys. The RBC increases linearly (p<0.05) as ginger supplementation increases with starter turkeys. Serum albumin improved significantly (p<0.05) following dietary inclusion of 2 g/kg ginger powder at the starter (3.37g/dl) phase. In conclusion, starter turkeys fed diet containing ginger at 2 g/kg showed improved growth with improvement in hepatic enzyme activities.

A 56 days feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and blood characteristics of broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with riboflavin and pyridoxine. A total of two hundred and forty day old unsexed Marshall Broiler chickens were assigned to eight diets in a completely randomised design. The diets were such that diet 1 was the control (basal diet without vitamin supplementation), diets 2, 3 and 4 had basal diet supplemented with 4 mg/kg, 8 mg/kg and 12 mg/kg riboflavin, respectively, diets 5, 6, and 7 had basal diet supplemented with 3.5 mg/kg, 7 mg/kg and 10.5 mg/kg pyridoxine, respectively while diet 8 had basal diet with 4 mg/kg riboflavin + 3.5 mg/kg pyridoxine. Each dietary treatment was replicated three times with 10 birds per replicate. The growth parameters measured at day 28 were not significantly influenced (P>0.05) by the diets. At day 56, the final weight (1980 g) was highest in birds fed diets with 7 mg/kg supplemental pyridoxine, though the final weight value was similar (P>0.05) to those fed diets supplemented with 4 mg/kg (1793.30 g) and 12 mg/kg (1700.00 g) riboflavin. Higher protein retention values were recorded for broilers fed higher concentration of supplemental riboflavin and pyridoxine. The packed cell volume (PCV) and haemoglobin (Hb) concentration of broilers fed diets supplemented with 8 mg/kg riboflavin and 7 mg/kg pyridoxine (insert the values here) were higher than those on other diets. Higher levels of riboflavin and pyridoxine and their combination resulted in an elevated heterophil and decreased lymphocyte values. An elevated (P<0.05) mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) (44.75 pg/cell) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (133.05 f/L) concentration was observed in broilers fed diets containing added 3.5 mg/kg pyridoxine. The study revealed that 8 mg/kg riboflavin and 7 mg/kg pyridoxine is required for improved final weight, crude protein retention and good health of broiler chickens.