USE OF NANO-COPPER AS A GROWTH PROMOTER AND ANTIBACTERIAL AGENTS IN BROILER PRODUCTION

Abstract

xecutive Summary Minor amount of copper is a key element required for poultry muscle growth, act as antioxidant as well as anti-bacterial agent but access amount causes economic losses, toxicity and environmental pollutions. On the other hand, proper amount of copper is essential in poultry meat for safety to human consumption as judged by Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) and Maximum Permitted Concentration (MPC). To study the above said factors , a total of 160 day old broiler chicks were used in this study to assessed the growth, immune cell and organ, health status of villi and concentrations of copper (Cu) in liver, bone and faeces. After an adaptation period of one week, the chicks were equally and randomly divided into 5 treatment groups having 4 replication groups. Each replication were consist of 8 chicks and each treatment have 32 chicks. Copper particle size were <100 nm.The dietary treatments were T 0 = Control group or group supply basal diet, T = 5 mg (nano-Cu powder), T 2 = 10mg (nano-Cu powder), T 3 = 15mg (nano-Cu powder), T 4 1 = 10mg (Cu powder). 20 (1.0 g of each) samples was treated with conc. Nitric acid and digested to get analyst copper in solutions. FCR and copper concentration in bone differ among treatments but non-significant (P> 0.05) with each other. Though lowest FCR found in T2 and highest FCR were found in T0. However, in case of liver and faeces, cupper concentration in T3 (15 mg nano-cupper) is highly significant (P<0.05) with the other treatments. In case of immune-organ, bursa and thymus both are highly significant in T1 (5 mg nano-cupper) with the others. On the other hand, E. coli and salmonella spp. count was significantly (P<0.05) lower in birds fed a 15mg nano-copper supplemented diet and with a descending order of T2 and T1. Salmonella sp. and E. coli count were also significantly (p<0.05) higher in birds fed control and copper particles with the nano-copper. The results of the study demonstrate the beneficial effects of supplementing nano-cupper on feed conversion ratio and immune-organ weight in the treated groups in broiler chicken. 15 g nanoparticle/1litre of water is, therefore suggested to be used as an alternative to growth promoter on broiler chicken rations for higher productivity and profitability.