EFFECTS OF DIETARY ANISE, LEMON AND MINT OILS SUPPLEMENTATION ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, CARCASS TRAITS AND BLOOD BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF BROILER CHICKENS

The present research evaluated the influence of dietary supplementation of anise, lemon, and mint essential oils on growth performance, carcass traits, and biochemical parameters of broiler chickens. A total of 168 one-day-old, unsexed Ross (308) broiler chicks were randomly divided into four groups (42 chicks/group). The control group received the basal diet, while the other groups received the basal diet supplemented with anise, lemon, and mint oils at a level of 0.5 g/kg basal diet. The results revealed that all diets supplemented with oils had improved FCRو compared to the control group. Birds that fed lemon oil had an improvement in the average BW and BWG with nearly 10% and 11%, respectively. Birds that received mint oil had the highest breast yield (27.93%) and the lowest abdominal fat percentage (0.27%), while the best fat bad percentage (0.84%) was recorded for birds that received anise oil. The lowest value of LDL was recorded for birds whose diet contained lemon oil. On the other hand, the HDL values showed a contrary result for the same birds. Birds that received lemon oil had improved total antioxidant capacity (2.79 μmol/l), while the birds fed mint oil had the lowest total antioxidant capacity (0.16 μmol/l) as compared with other groups. The villus length (VL), width (VW), and crypt depth (CD) for the birds with a mint oil diet showed superior values as compared with others. This study revealed that the inclusion of essential oils (anise, lemon, and mint) in the broiler chicken diets improved both body weight and gain, increased feed conversion ratio, and breast yield. However, the lemon oil specifically enhanced the broiler chicken’s antioxidant status and blood lipid profile. Additionally, it improved the bird’s intestinal morphometric properties.