Effect of Taraxacum officinale and Saccharomyces cerevisiae or their Mixture on some Productive Parameters of Turkey

Abstract

Reaching to the highest body weight in return for each unit of feed consumption is the aim of raising commercial poultries these days. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of incorporating Taraxacum officinale, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and their combination powder as a growth promoter in turkey feed. A total of 40 turkey toms (black strain) at age 49 days old were randomly assigned to four equally treated groups (10 birds per treatment) with two replicates (5 birds per replicate),as following: The first group (T1) was fed on basal diet as a control group (without additive). While, second group (T2) and third group (T3) were daily fed on basal diet containing 0.25 % Taraxacum officinale and Saccharomyces cerevisiae respectively. On the other hands, four group (T4) was daily fed on basal diet containing 0.5 % mixture of Taraxacum officinale and Saccharomyces cerevisiae during period of experiment (28 days). Body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were calculated on weekly basis. Generally, The results indicate that no significant improvement in measurements of productive performance. In conclusion, meat production in turkey had no effect by Taraxacum officinale (as prebiotic), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (as probiotic) and their combination powder (as symbiotic).