Table 3 Evaluation of copper acetate (CA), curcumin (CR) and copper acetate-curcumin (CA-CR) on body weight (BW), body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in broiler chickens on day ten post-S. Typhimurium challenge in trial 1 and trial 2¹

CTRL (−)

40.60 ± 0.57

232.33 ± 9.46 ^ab

191.73 ± 9.39 ^ab

CTRL (+)

40.13 ± 0.86

204.97 ± 10.06 ^b

164.83 ± 10.05 ^b

CA

40.67 ± 0.70

227.50 ± 9.32 ^ab

186.83 ± 9.40 ^ab

CR

40.87 ± 1.01

237.93 ± 7.80 ^a

197.07 ± 7.60 ^a

CA-CR

40.47 ± 0.62

226.8 ± 8.75 ^ab

186.33 ± 8.83 ^ab

SEM²

0.34

4.17

4.15

P-value

0.973

0.122

0.134

CTRL (−)

40.93 ± 0.64

231.83 ± 7.54 ^ab

190.90 ± 7.28 ^ab

CTRL (+)

40.07 ± 0.95

205.6 ± 7.75 ^b

165.53 ± 7.90 ^b

CA

40.40 ± 0.79

226.83 ± 8.82 ^ab

186.43 ± 8.66 ^ab

CR

41.27 ± 0.71

236.63 ± 8.00 ^a

195.37 ± 8.04 ^a

CA-CR

40.40 ± 0.84

226.6 ± 10.51 ^ab

186.2 ± 10.68 ^ab

SEM²

0.35

3.94

3.92

P-value

0.833

0.119

0.143