Effects of Diet with"Lianhuang"Additive of Chinese Herb Medicine on Growth Performance and Metabolic Rates of Dietary Nutrients in Donglan Black Chicken

[Objectives]The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of diet with"Lianhuang"additive of Chinese herbal medicine(LACHM)on growth performance and metabolic rates of dietary nutrients in Donglan black chickens(DBCs).[Methods]80 DBCs aged 1 d were blocked into 4 groups randomly and assigned to 6 replicates in each group with 20 chicks in each replicate.Group A as control group fed basal diet.Groups B,C and D as treatment groups consumed the basal diet added with 0.25%,0.50%and 1.00%of LACHM,respectively during the test period of 70 d.In the end of feeding test,24 DBCs with similar body weight from each group were chosen out and used for a metabolism test to determine the metabolic rates of dietary nutrients from each treatment.The metabolism test was conducted as the same design as the feeding test and the DBCs from each group were fed the same diet as previous test.[Results]The ADG of chickens in the test increased by 5.00%-9.15%(P<0.05)except the stage of 50-70 d,and the individual average body weight(IABW)at 70 d in group B also increased by 4.86%(P<0.05).Compared with group A,the ADG of group C in the stages of 36-49,1-49 and 1-70 d and the IABW in the end of 70 d increased by 5.90%,2.66%,2.68%and 2.57%(P>0.05),respectively.The ADFI in the stage of 36-49 d from group A was 6.04%more than that from group B(P<0.01),and 5.12%and 4.13%more than those from groups C and D(P<0.05),respectively,and the ADFI of group A in the stage of 1-49 d was still 2.86%more than that from group C(P<0.05).However,no differences in ADFI were found in other stages in the test among the 4 groups(P>0.05).The F/G in the stages of 22-35 and 1-70 d from group B was 6.32%and 3.41%lower than those from group A(P<0.05),respectively,and even 11.43%and 7.31%lower in the stages of 36-49 and 1-49 d from group B than those from group A(P<0.01),respectively.The F/G of group C in the stage of 36-49 d was also 10.15%lower than that of group A(P<0.05),and still 5.29%lower than that from group A in 1-49 d(P<0.01),but no differences were found in other stages between the two groups(P>0.05).The metabolic rates of MD,CP,CF,NFE,CA,TE,Ca and P in the 3 treatment diets for group B,C and D all increased to some extent.Among them,the increasing extents of diets with 0.25%and 0.50%of LACHM for groups B and C were much greater.Therefore,the diet with 0.25%of LACHM could improve the growth performance and metabolic rates of dietary nutrients in DBCs significantly.[Conclusions]This study provides a theoretical reference for the effects of traditional Chinese medicine additives on the growth and metabolic rates of DBCs.