Effect of azomite on growth performance, nutrient utilization, serum biochemical index and bone mineralization of broilers fed low protein diet

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of Azomite (AZO) on the growth performance, nutrient utilisation, and bone mineralisation of broilers fed low protein diet. A total number of 180 one-day-old male chicks were randomly distributed to three treatment groups having six replicates of 10 birds each. Experimental diets included; positive control (PC) with 21.5% CP (starter) and 19.0% CP (finisher), negative control (NC) with 2% lower CP than PC in each period and treatment group (AZO-0.25) in which NC was supplemented with 0.25% AZO. Azomite significantly (p .05) higher in NC. Azomite improved the digestibility of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), apparent metabolisable energy (AME), calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) (p