Effects of Gano-met® on growth performance in broilers in summer

Gano-met^® (Life Rainbow Biotech Co., Ltd. Taiwan) is a liquid supplement containing methionine hydroxy analog (MHA) and Ganoderma lucidum extract that can be applied into drinking water for poultry. Methionine is considered as a limiting essential amino acid in poultry diets. Synthetic Met, such as MHA, is widely used in feed to meet the nutritional requirement. MHA also exhibit hepatoprotective action, acidifier, and antibacterial effect. G. lucidum, a precious Traditional Chinese Medicines, contains a number of bioactive compounds such as polysaccharides, triterpenes, and glycoproteins, which own health-promoting effects. Polyssacharides are the major bio-active compounds of G. lucidum due to their pharmacological properties, that possess immunomodulator and antioxidant features. The objective of the following trial was to access the response on broilers when administrating with Gano-met^® via drinking water during summer.

75,800 broilers (AA) were randomly divided into control group (42,000 birds) and Gano-met^® group (33,800 birds) and both fed with commercial diet throughout the 5-week experimental period. The Gano-met^® group was administrated with Gano-met^® (1 L/ton water) into drinking water using 3 days per week. Till 5 weeks, all broilers sold to market.

The results of this trial are presented in Table 1. The survival rates of the control group and Gano-met^® group were 98.64% and 98.43%, respectively. The Gano-met^® group had a higher average selling weight. To compare the growth results of broilers from different buildings, production indexes were analyzed which show that the Gano-met^® group performed better than the control group.

The trial period was from August to September (2019), and the location was in central Taiwan. The average temperature of these two months were 28.6°C and 27.9°C; the highest temperature were 33°C  and 33.4°C, and the relative humidity were 88.3% and 77.8%, respectively. Heat stress in summer is a major economic threat to poultry farming, which can reduce feed intake and cause lethargy, which affects growth performance. The basis for reducing heat stress should start with equipment, and then enhance the poultry's resistance to stress from nutrition aspect, including Gano-met^® supplementation. This trial demonstrates that Gano-met^® can help broilers improve their nutritional utilization and increase their selling weight.