Effect of dietary garlic (<i>Allium sativum</i>) on performance, carcass composition and blood chemistry changes in broiler chickens

Abstract

Broiler chicks (7 d old) were fed 0, 100, 1000 and 10 000 mg kg −1 dried garlic in a starter diet for 35 d. Garlic increased average daily weight gain (P &lt; 0.05) during the first 21 d on feed. There were no treatment effects on weight gain, feed intake or efficiency when the study was terminated after 35 d. Garlic did not influence muscle, adipose or bone growth (P &gt; 0.05). Serum cholesterol and HDL were lower (P &lt; 0.05) on the 10 000 mg kg −1 diet, though absolute differences were small and of questionable biological significance. Results of this investigation demonstrate that the inclusion of garlic in the diet did not improve the performance of broiler chickens, though plasma cholesterol and plasma HDL cholesterol concentrations were approximately 10% lower with the highest level of dietary garlic. Key words: Garlic, broiler chickens, performance