Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, Blood Parameters, Health Status and Economic Efficiency of Broiler Chicks Fed Diets Supplemented with Dried Orange Peel Powder

This study investigated how adding dried orange peel (DOP) to broiler diets affects growth performance, carcass characteristics, blood parameters, and economic efficiency. 120 Ross broiler chicks, aged one day, were randomly assigned to three treatment groups, each comprising four replicates of 10 chicks. The control group was fed a basal corn-soybean meal diet without additives, while the second and third groups were fed the same basal diet supplemented with 1 and 2% DOP, respectively. The growth performance traits, meat yield, blood parameters, and economic outcomes were evaluated. The results revealed that during the starter period, DOP supplementation significantly reduced live body weight (LBW), body weight gain (BWG), and feed consumption (FC) while improving the feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to the control diet. Broiler chicks receiving 2% DOP had lower LBW, BWG, and FC, along with a better FCR than those in the other treatment groups. During the finisher period, broiler chicks fed 1% DOP exhibited the lowest BWG and the poorest FCR among the groups. The treated groups also showed the lowest final LBW, total BWG, and total FC relative to the control group. Dietary DOP supplementation significantly reduced serum levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglyceride, and abdominal fat percentage compared to the control diet. Also, adding 2% DOP greatly decreased the numbers of Salmonella and E. coli, and adding 1% DOP decreased the total number of bacteria in the cecal content compared to the control group. Furthermore, DOP supplementation significantly increased dressing carcass percentage and enhanced humoral immunity. In summary, although DOP negatively affected growth performance, it enhanced carcass quality by increasing the dressing percentage and decreasing the abdominal fat. Additionally, it improves broiler health status by lowering serum cholesterol, HDL, and triglyceride levels, suppressing pathogenic bacteria, and boosting humoral immunity.