The effect of Citric Acid in the Diets of Native Chicken on Growth Performance and Carcass Traits

Aims: The study used native crossbred chickens to evaluate the effects of citric acid on growth performance and carcass traits of these chickens

Study Design: The experiment was a completely randomized design.

Place and Duration of Study: School of Agriculture and Aquaculture's experimental farm, Tra Vinh University, between December 2020 to March 2021 (4 months).

Methodology: This study was a completely randomized design with four diets which were 0%, 0.15%, 0.25%, and 0.5% (CT, CT0.15, CT0.25, and CT0.50 respectively) of citric acid and three replicates per each diet. A total of 10 birds was allotted in each group with a 1:1 sex ratio. Feed and water were given ad libitum to the chickens. Data were collected daily throughout the experiment. At the end of the trial, the chickens were butchered to ascertain the weight of the carcass, breast, thigh, and internal organs.

Results: The results showed that chickens in the diet with 0.5% citric acid had a great performance, live weight was higher than other treatments with 632.1 g/bird at 8 weeks of age, daily weight gain, feed intake showed better performance as well. There was a linear feed conversion ratio when citric acid increased from 0 - 0.5% in the diets. Carcass weight, breast weight, and thigh weight were significantly different between treatments (P < 0.05). However, there were not significantly different between carcass, breast, thigh percentage, and other edible organs’ weight.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that adding citric acid with the amount of 0.50% in the diet improved growth performance and some carcass characteristics such as thigh weight and breast weight of the chickens.