Evaluación de diferentes niveles de harina de cúrcuma (Cúrcuma longa) en la alimentación de pollos camperos

Abstract

In Orellana province, most small producers are unaware of the natural additives used as growth promoters in the raising of free-range chickens, using mainly antibiotics, unaware that their indiscriminate use can generate bacterial resistance in these birds and therefore in the population that consumes them. For this reason, the objective of the present project was to evaluate different levels of turmeric meal in the feed of free-range chickens. The evaluation was carried out during 8 weeks at La Belleza Experimental Station, under a completely randomized design, with four treatments: T1 (100% balanced + 0% turmeric meal), T2: (99% balanced + 1% turmeric meal), T3: (98% balanced + 2% turmeric meal), T4 (97% balanced + 3% turmeric meal) and five replicates, where 200 broilers of 7 days of age with 115 g average weight were used. The data were collected weekly, compiled in Excel sheets, and analyzed in the SAS v.9.4 program, verifying their normality with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and adjusting them with logarithmic transformations to a normal distribution. Means were obtained with LSD and compared with Bonferroni test. In terms of results, T1 was the one that obtained the highest weight, weight gain, feed consumption and cost-benefit yield, compared to the treatments that incorporated turmeric meal. Feed conversion and mortality were similar in all treatments. It is concluded that using turmeric meal levels (1 to 3%) in the diet of free-range chickens does not improve productive performance, since the increase in their diet reduced consumption, weight, and weight gain, not influencing increases in mortality rates.