GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2020, 11(01), 197–206 Available online at GSC Online Press Directory GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences e-ISSN: 2581-3250, CODEN (USA): GBPSC2 Journal homepage: https://www.gsconlinepress.com/journals/gscbps  Corresponding author: Oyewole Benjamin Osigbodi Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0. (R ESEARCH A RTICLE ) Performance and haematology of broiler strains (cobbs and arbor-acre) fed ginger (Zingiber officinale) based diet at the early phase Iyaode Iyekeji Ifelayo, Oyewole Benjamin Osigbodi * , Adesola Mercy Adetola and Anjorin Grace Oluwabunmi Department of Animal Production, Kogi State University, Anyigba, Nigeria. Publication history: Received on 18 April 2020; revised on 25 April 2020; accepted on 28 April 2020 Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.30574/gscbps.2020.11.1.0107 Abstract The research was conducted to evaluate the performance and haematology of broiler strains (Cobbs and Arbor-acre) fed ginger (Zingiber officinale) at the early phase. A total of one hundred and forty-four (144) day old chicks of mixed sexes comprising of two different strains were used for the experiment. They were randomly assigned to the three different experimental treatment groups. Treatment 1 (T1 = basal diet only); Treatment 2 (T2 = basal diet + 0.5% ginger); Treatment 3 (T3 = basal diet + 1.0% ginger). Each treatment group was replicated three (3) times in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Results showed that ginger inclusion caused significant (p< 0.05) increase on final weight, weight gain, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio, as better performance was recorded with the increase in the inclusion level of ginger. Final weight, weight gain, daily weight gains and feed conversion ratio was significantly affected by strain treatment interaction at 0.5% ginger inclusion as theCobbs strain had a higher performance than the Arbor acre strain. The effect of dietary levels of ginger (Zingiber officinale) on the haematology of different strains of broiler showed that ginger inclusion significantly increased (p<0.05) all the haematological parameters evaluated except for PCV. It is observed that there were better haematological indices for Cobbs strain, and better response at 1% ginger inclusion. Inclusion of ginger (at 1%) favoured the performance and haematological indices of broiler chickens. Keywords: Performance; Haematology; Broiler; Strains; Ginger 1. Introduction Nutrition is the most expensive factor in poultry production taking approximately 70% of production budgets [1; 2]. Therefore, to reduce the cost of production, improvement in the feed efficiency would be a feasible option. The use of feed additives as growth promoters in poultry nutrition is one of the ways to accomplish this goal. Growth promoters are commonly used to stimulate growth and protect the health of poultry [3]. Among growth promoters, the most commonly used are antibiotics. However, their use is restricted due to possible development of drug resistance in bacteria, drug residue in carcass and also alteration of natural gut micro flora [4]. Many countries tend to minimize or prohibit the use of antibiotics because of their deleterious side effects on both animals and humans. Recently, studies have become more focused on the use of naturally occurring phytobiotics to replace the chemically based feed additives [5]. Phytogenics are a group of natural growth promoters or non-antibiotic growth promoters, derived from herbs, spices or other plants, which have been reported to possess antimicrobial, anti-oxidative, anti- inflammatory and immuno-modulatory properties [6]. The positive effects of herbal supplements on broiler performance, carcass quality and quality traits of meat have been demonstrated [7].