Increasing antimicrobial resistance has driven demand for phytogenic feed additives in poultry production. The present study aimed to assess phytochemical, proximate, and antinutritional profiles of Ficus nota (Blanco) Merr. fruit meal processed by drying or ensiling, and evaluated the effects of processing method and antibiotic supplementation on growth performance, carcass traits, and nutrient digestibility in broiler chickens. In a 42-day trial, 144 day-old unsexed broiler chickens (35 ± 0.5 g) were randomly assigned to a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement of antibiotic inclusion (with or without doxycycline) and Ficus nota (FN) administration. The treatments consisted of a control diet without FN, 100 g/kg dried FN (DFN), 100 g/kg ensiled FN (EFN), and a 50 + 50 g/kg combination of DFN and EFN (DFN + EFN), replicated three times with six chickens each. Growth performance was evaluated weekly from days 14 to 42, carcass traits at slaughter, and crude protein (CP) digestibility and nitrogen and phosphorus balance from total excreta. Ensiling preserved flavonoids (1.30 mg QE/g) and phenolics (12.01 mg GAE/g) while reducing tannin concentration compared to drying process. FN treatment significantly affected body weight, with the DFN group (852.21 g) significantly lower than the control (920.68 g). The DFN group exhibited the poorest feed conversion ratio (FCR) during the starter phase (1.13) but the highest during the finisher phase (0.97). Antibiotic-supplemented groups had lower overall FCR (1.06) than antibiotic-free groups (1.15), across all FN treatments. Antibiotic-supplemented groups had lower CP digestibility (64.50% versus 65.52%), higher nitrogen (17.48 versus 16.20 mg/kg) and phosphorus (2.77 versus 2.53 mg/kg) excretion than antibiotic-free groups. Among FN treatments, the control group achieved the highest CP digestibility (66.68%). The EFN group achieved the highest nitrogen retention (33.65 mg), followed by the control (32.74 mg), DFN (30.19 mg), and DFN+EFN (28.92 mg) groups. Carcass recovery (79.47% ) and chilling loss (0.63%) did not differ significantly among treatments. Ensiled FN fruit meal was a viable phytogenic feed additive that improved nitrogen retention while maintaining growth performance. Blending dried and ensiled FN fruit meals exhibited antagonistic interactions between tannins and organic acids.
Taer et al. (Mon,) studied this question.