Effects of Roxarsone and Bacitracin Methylen Disalicylat on The Performance and Carcass Composition of Broilers

This experiment was conducted to compare the effects of Roxarsone (Rox) and Bacitracin methylen disalicylat (BMD) on the performance of broiler chicks. A control corn-soybean meal diet without growth promoter was formulated according to NRC (1994) recommendation for starter (0-21d) and grower (22-42d) periods. The control diet was also supplemented with Rox (50 mg/kg diet ) BMD (55 mg/kg diet) as well as the combination of Rox (50 mg/kg diet ) and BMD (55 mg/kg diet) in order to prepare 4 dietary treatments. Five replicate groups of 15 Ross 308 broiler chicks were assigned to each dietary treatment. Data was analyzed in a completely randomized design. Results of experiment indicated that individual supplementing of diet with Rox as well as BMD led to improved body weight gain and feed conversion ratio compared to the basal diet. However, those birds fed diet containing the combination of these two compounds had significantly higher body weight gain and lower feed conversion than other groups ( P<0.05 ). Neither Rox nor BMD had any significant effect on feed intake. Birds fed diets supplemented with Rox or BMD had better carcass composition than those fed Basal diet. Based on the present results, supplementing broilers diets with Rox leads to improved body weight gain and feed conversion ratio in broilers. However, supplementing broiler diets with combination of Rox and BMD has a more positive effect on the performance and carcass composition in broiler chicks.