Effects of humic acid addition via drinking water on the performance of broilers fed diets containing fermented and non-fermented palm kernel cake

摘要

An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of humic acid addition via drinking water on the performance of broiler fed diets containing fermented (FPKC) and non-fermented palm kernel cake (PKC) in a completely randomized design experiment involving treatments with 4 replicate. The treatments were arranged as follows: 1) 0% basic ration (0% PKC/FPKC), 2) 0% basic ration + humic acid, 3) 15% PKC, 4) 15% PKC + humic acid, 5) 15% FPKC, 6) 15% FPKC + humic acid. The rations were formulated to contain 22% crude protein and and 3000 kcal/kg metabolizable energy. Feed consumption, body weight gain, feed conversion, and carcass percentage were response variables. The result showed that the parameters were highly significant affected (P<0.01) by any treatment. In conclusion the PKC fermented (15% FPKC) and the addition of humic acid of 100 ppm in water can improve broilers performance as observed from feed consumption (1748.89 g/head), body weight gain (1074.70 g/head), feed conversion (1.63) and carcass percentage (73.15%).