(Syam Rahadi dan La Malesi)
ABSTRAK
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penambahan tepung kunyit saja (R1) memberikan efek yang serupa dengan pakan basal. Sementara itu, penambahan kitosan, baik secara tunggal maupun kombinasi dengan tepung kunyit (R2, R3, dan R4), menunjukkan dampak negatif terhadap performa ayam broiler pada seluruh variabel yang diukur.
ABSTRACT
Natural feed additives contain active compounds that provide fewer side effects compared to synthetic chemical compounds and have potential as natural feed additives for improving meat quality in broiler chickens. This study aims to determine the effect of supplementation with chitosan and turmeric powder as feed additives on the production performance of broiler chickens. The study used 200 broiler chickens of the SR707 strain. The experiment was designed as a completely randomized design with five treatments and four replications. The feed treatments were: R0 (basal feed), R1 (R0 + 0.5% turmeric powder [TP]), R2 (R0 + 0.5% chitosan), R3 (R0 + 0.5% TP + 0.5% chitosan), and R4 (R0 + 0.5% TP + 1% chitosan). Feed and water were provided ad libitum during the 30-day experiment. Variables measured included feed intake, daily gain, and feed conversion. It can be concluded that the addition of only turmeric powder (R1) showed similar effects to the basal feed, whereas the addition of chitosan alone or in combination with turmeric powder (R2, R3, and R4) showed a negative impact on the performance of broilers across all measured variables.
Keywords: turmeric, chitosan, feed additives