Abstract:
Kulawu Sentul chicken is a specific one which comes from Ciamis region in West Java with grey feathers as its distinctive feature, with a variation of grey and brown yellows feathers and orderly arranged feathers on its breast like dragon scales. One alternative to improve the Kulawu chicken quality is by using Turmeric (Curcuma domestica Val.) as feed additive. Extract of turmeric is a medicinal plant containing active ingredients curcumin and essential oils that function anti-bacterial and can reduce cholesterol. The objective of this study was to obtain the optimal level of turmeric extract in ration on the amount of bacteria in the intestine and performance of Sentul chicken growth phase. The experiment used 100 Kulawu chicken that was kept for 12 weeks. The experimental design used was Completely Randomized Design with 5 treatment levels of turmeric extract, and 4 replications respectively. The treatment consisted of P0 (control ); P1 (37 ml/kg extract); P2 (74 ml/kg ration); P3 (111 ml/kg ration) and P4 (148 ml/kg ration). Variable analyses were the amount of bacteria in the intestine (Staphylococcus aureus; Escherichia coli) and performance (feed intake, weight gain, carcass weight, feed conversion and meat cholesterol). Statistical analysis showed that the treatment significantly affected the levels (P< 0.05) of Staphylococcus aureus, but not significantly affected the Escherichia coli amount. The treatment with 74 – 111 mg/kg significantly (P<0.05) increased weight gain, carcass weight, feed intake, feed conversion, and meat cholesterol decreased. It can be concluded that treatment 74 mg/kg turmeric extract could inhibit amount bacteria in the intestine, reduce meat cholesterol and gave the best performance on Kulawu chicken.
