Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Department of Animal Science, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran. E-mail: beheshti_mehran@iau.ac.ir
2 Corresponding Author, Department of Animal Science, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran. E-mail: mohsen.hajipour50@iau.ac.ir
3 Department of Animal Science, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran. E-mail: vrezaeipour@iau.ac.ir
10.22059/jap.2025.393910.623843
Abstract
Objective: Bacterial resistance and chemical residues in chicken meat prohibited the use of growth-promoting antibiotics in in humans. Therefore, essential oils, extracts, and powders of medicinal plants as antibiotic alternatives in poultry feed have been of interest in recent years. These include cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) (cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, and carvacrol), garden thyme (Thymus vulgaris L) (carvacrol and thymol), clove (Caryophillium aromaticus) (eugenol), and turmeric (rhizome of the Curcuma Longa plant) (curcuminoids), all of which are plant-based products with antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Considering the substantial scientific evidence regarding the positive effects of plant extracts on improving broiler chickens performance, and considering that has climatic diversity in the growth of medicinal plants, using beneficial natural additives in broiler chickens nutrition is justified.
Method: In this study, the effects of hydroalcoholic extract of mixed herbs on performance, carcass characteristics, blood parameters, antioxidant activity, and antibody titers in broiler chicks were examined using 240 one-day-old Ross 308 male broiler chicks with an average initial weight of 44±2 grams using a completely randomized design with four treatments, six replications, and 10 chicks per replication over 42 days. The treatments were 1-control group (no hydroalcoholic extract), 2-treatment one liter of hydroalcoholic extract in 1000 liters of drinking water, 3-treatment two liters of hydroalcoholic extract in 1000 liters of drinking water, and 4-treatment three liters of hydroalcoholic extract in 1000 liters of drinking water. The chicks were weighed, and feed intake was measured during the periods of 1 to 10 days, 11 to 24 days, and 25 to 42 days of age. At the end of the experiment, two chicks from each replicate with body weights close to the average weight of the replicate were selected for carcass characteristics.They were weighed again and slaughtered by the halal neck-cutting method. At 42 days of age, two birds were randomly selected from each experimental unit, and after blood collection from their wing veins, they were tested for blood parameters.
Results: In the starter, finisher and total periods, feed intake in birds that received the herbal hydroalcoholic extract mixture at the level of one and two liters per 1000 liters of drinking water was higher than other treatments (P<0.05). During the grower period, feed conversion ratio in birds that received the herbal hydroalcoholic extract mixture at the level of one liter per 1000 liters of drinking water was lower than other treatments (P<0.05). Carcass percentage, breast percentage, thigh percentage, meat pH, malondialdehyde concentration and cooking loss were significantly affected by experimental treatments (P<0.05). Birds receiving the herbal hydroalcoholic extract mixture at the level of two liters per 1000 liters of drinking water showed increased glucose concentration, decreased cholesterol concentration, decreased uric acid concentration, decreased ALT concentration and increased blood catalase concentration (P<0.05). Birds that received the mixed treatment of plant hydroalcoholic extract at the level of one and two liters per 1000 liters of drinking water had antibody titer levels against infectious bronchitistreatments (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Based on the current results, one liter of hydroalcoholic extract per 1000 liters of drinking water is recommended under the conditions of this experiment because of the improved feed conversion ratio during the grower period, better quantitative carcass traits, and higher antibody titer against infectious bronchitis in broiler chickens.
Keywords
Reference
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