Local grasses and their phytocompounds as natural alternatives to antibiotics for improving growth performance and health in coloured broilers

Antibiotics are widely used in the broiler industry to promote growth and prevent diseases, potentially leading to antimicrobial resistance in both livestock and consumers. Phytobiotics, including phytocompounds from grasses, may serve as natural alternatives to antibiotics. However, their effects in poultry production remain unexplored in Malaysia. This study assesses the impact of grass meals derived from Pennisetum purpureum, Brachiaria decumbens, and Megathyrsus maximus on the production performance of coloured broilers. Grass samples were collected from Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Farm 15, fertilized, and harvested at four weeks old. They were analysed for dry matter (DM), crude fibre (CF), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), and ash content. A completely randomized feeding trial was conducted using Sasso broilers fed commercial feed supplemented with different grass meals. Six treatment groups were tested for each grass: (1) negative control, (2) positive control with oxytetracycline (100mg/kg feed), and (3–6) increasing levels of grass meal (1.25g, 2.5g, 3.75g, and 5.0g/kg feed). Growth parameters, including body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR), were recorded weekly.On day 56, twelve broilers per treatment were slaughtered to analyse nutrient digestibility, gut histomorphology, cecal microbiota, carcass characteristics, and meat quality. Blood samples were collected to assess serum lipid profile, acute phase proteins (APP), corticosterone, and heat shock protein HSP70. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences (p<0.05) across various parameters in all experiments. The highest grass meal inclusion (5.0g/kg feed) resulted in improved growth performance, nutrient digestibility, gut morphology, and cecal microbiota. Birds in this group exhibited reduced feed intake but higher BWG, leading to better FCR. Nutrient digestibility showed the highest apparent ileal digestibility for CF, CP, and EE, while DM and ash were the lowest. Gut analysis indicated longer villi height and shorter crypt depth, alongside distinct cecal microbial populations. In carcass characteristics, no significant changes were observed in Experiment A (P. purpureum), though numerical improvements were noted. However, Experiments B and C (B. decumbens and M. maximus) displayed notable changes. All three experiments demonstrated improved meat quality, lower APP, corticosterone, HSP70, and serum lipid levels in the highest grass meal inclusion group. In conclusion, under tropical conditions, coloured broilers supplemented with 5.0g/kg feed of P. purpureum, B. decumbens, and M. maximus showed enhanced growth performance, nutrient digestibility, gut health, meat quality, and physiological markers. Among the three, P. purpureum exhibited the most consistent improvements. These findings suggest that locally available grasses and their phytocompounds have the potential to replace antibiotics as feed additives in poultry production.

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