Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of green tea and fermented green tea probiotics on the growth performance and body composition in broiler chicks. A total 168 Ross broilers chicks, one-day old was randomly allotted to 6 treatments with 4 replications having 7 layers per replication. There were six dietary treatments namely negative control (without antibiotics), positive control (basal + 30 ppm oxytetracycline), green tea (basal + 0.5% and basal + 1.0%) and fermented green tea probiotics, FGTP (basal + 0.5% and basal + 1.0%). The results revealed that body weight gain and feed conversion ratio of broiler chicks were not significant among the treatments. The crude protein content of broiler meat was increased significantly in 1.0% FGTP group compared to the other treatments (P < 0.05). The thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value of broiler meat in 0.5% green tea showed lowest than other groups though no significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed except fresh and 1^st week after preservation. In conclusion, diets containing 0.5% green tea and 1.0% FGTP groups were suitable for broiler growth performance and meat composition.

Key words: Green tea, fermented green tea probiotics, broiler, weight gain, crude protein, lipid oxidation.