Growth Performance, Meat Quality, and Serum Biochemistry of Broiler Chickens Fed with the Addition of Dietary Cherry Laurel Fruit (Laurocerasus officinalis Roem.) Powder

Plant feed additives containing bioactive compounds with potential positive effects on poultry health and productivity can be included in poultry diets. This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with cherry laurel fruit (Laurocerasus officinalis Roem.) powder (CLF) on growth performance (body weight, BW; body weight gain, BWG; feed intake, FI; feed conversion rate, FCR), meat quality, and serum biochemistry of broiler chickens. The study included 600 one-day-old mixed-sex Ross 308 broiler chickens, randomly allocated into four treatment groups, each with six replicates of 25 birds. The birds were subjected to treatments consisting of diets supplemented without CLF (control diet, CLF0) or with 2.5 (CLF2.5), 5 (CLF5), and 10 (CLF10) g CLF/kg until 42 days of age. The diets with CLF increased BWG and FI and improved FCR compared to the CLF0 (P<0.05). Carcass yield was higher in the CLF2.5 and CLF5 groups (P<0.05) than in the CLF0 group. Compared to the others, the CLF5 and CLF10 treatments enhanced the water-holding capacity (WHC), and the CLF10 treatment increased the dry matter (DM) content of breast meat (P<0.05). In thigh meat, all CLF treatments increased WHC compared to the control, while CLF100 increased DM content compared to the CLF0 and CLF2.5 treatments (P<0.05). The LDL level was higher in the CLF0 than in the CLF50 group (P<0.05). Overall, dietary supplementation with CLF enhanced broiler chickens' performance and meat quality.