The use of commercial growth promoter and phytoadditives in poultry production is a growing phenomenon because of the expected positive impact on health and productive performance. This study focuses on the comparative effect of a commercial growth promoter and two phytoadditives on ovarian development and bone characteristics of laying hens. Ninety 18-week old ISA Brown layers were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments in a Completely Randomized Design. Each treatment consisted of three replicates with 6 birds per replicate (18 birds per treatment). The treatments included: T1, a basal diet without additives; T2, basal diet supplemented with Nufocare P, a commercial growth promoter at 1 g/kg feed; T3, basal diet supplemented with 6 g of breadnut leaf/kg feed; T4, basal diet supplemented with 6 g of breadfruit leaf meal/kg feed and T5, basal diet supplemented with a combination of 3 g breadnut leaf and 3 g breadfruit leaf per kg feed. At the end of the 12-week feeding trial, ovarian follicular parameters and bone characteristics, including mineral composition, density and breaking strength were determined. The results showed that all supplemented diets significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced ovarian follicular development compared to the control. Also, birds fed the combined phytoadditives (T5) had the highest relative ovarian weight (2.53%) and the highest number of pre-ovulatory follicles (5.67). Commercial growth promoter increased the number of small follicles. Dietary treatments significantly (p < 0.05) affected total mineral content, macro minerals and bone yielding load, whereas trace mineral content, bone density and bone breaking strength were not significantly affected. The results indicate that dietary supplementation with Nufocare P (1 g/kg feed, T2) and a combined inclusion of breadnut and breadfruit leaf meals (3 g each/kg feed, T5) can promote ovarian development and improve specific bone traits in laying hens, highlighting their potential as natural alternatives to synthetic growth promoters.
Ojeniyi et al. (2026) studied this question.