Use of Flower of Spilanthes paniculata Wall. ex DC as Growth Promoter in Divyan Red Poultry Birds

Abstract

Background: In view of abundant availability of Spilanthes paniculata in flora of Jharkhand and widely reported benefits of its dried flowers, the current study aimed to explore the possibility and to quantify the effect of use of flowers of S. paniculata as feed additives in stimulating body growth in poultry birds. Methods: A four week experiment consisting of 60 numbers of poultry birds (Divyan Red) of five months old subjected to four treatments consisting of 15 birds in each treatment distributed equally with 5 replications, was undertaken during 2016-19 following randomized block design to observe the effect of feeding dried flowers of S. paniculata on body weight increase in poultry birds. Result: Feeding of dried flowers of S. paniculata @ 10 g/bird/day resulted in a gradual increase in rate of weight gain up to 14 days of feeding, whereas feeding @ 15 g and 20 g/bird/day resulted in increase in body weight gain up to 7 days. Feeding @ 10 g/bird/day resulted in highest body weight increase after feeding for four weeks and improved in the feed conversion ratio (FCR) significantly (P < 0.05) than the other 3 treatments. It is advisable for poultry owners to incorporate dried flowers of S. paniculata at a dose of 10 grams per bird per day for three weeks for attaining maximum growth in body weight in poultry birds.