Impact of Varying Dosages of Powdered Melissa Officinalis Leaf on Certain Blood and Microbiological Traits in Broiler Intestines

The study used 180 unsexed one-day-old Ross-308 broiler chicks. After that, the chicks were divided into four treatments at random, with three replicates of each treatment (15 chicks per replicate). The initial treatment, T1 (comparison), was an additive-free control diet. For one to four days, the powdered Melissa leaves were added to the second treatment (T2), third treatment (T3), and fourth treatment (T4) at the following concentrations: 0, 4, 6, and 8 g/kg feed, respectively. The findings showed that, as compared to the control treatment, adding Melissa leaf powder significantly (P<0.05) reduced the levels of low-density lipoproteins, triglycerides, cholesterol, and glucose. Additionally, the results showed that the addition treatments significantly increased the number of red blood cells, packed blood cell volume, and hemoglobin in the blood of the birds. It was also observed that the addition of Melissa leaf powder had a positive effect on intestinal bacteria, reducing the number of colon and total bacteria and significantly improving the number of lactobacilli. Based on this, we conclude that broiler chickens' blood and microbial characteristics significantly improved when they were fed crushed Melissa leaf powder. The concentration of 8 g/kg feed produced the best results when compared to the other concentrations and for all aspects of the study.