Effects of cinnamon, thyme and turmeric infusions on the performance and immune response in of 1- to 21-day-old male broilers

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the replacement of drinking water by herb infusions on the performance, relative weight of internal organs, hematocrit and immune response to Newcastle disease virus of broiler chickens. A total of 540 male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were divided into five groups, corresponding to four different treatments and one control group. Treatments were replicated eight times, and the control group four times. Experimental treatments included infusions (5 grams per liter) of cinnamon, thyme and turmeric in equal ratios in replacement of drinking water. Experimental period lasted 21 days and all chicks were fed with a corn-soybean based diet. Results showed that all herbs infusions caused significant (p<0.05) decrease in live body weight compared with the control group at 21 days of age. Mix treatment significantly decreased relative carcass weight relative to the control group (p<0.05). Herbs infusions increased the relative weight of some organs. None of herb additives affected hematocrit in comparison to control group. Cinnamon and herb mix infusion significantly improved bird immune response to the NDV vaccine in comparison to the control group and those that received only turmeric infusion. When all in-water additives were compare to each other, the birds supplemented with turmeric infusion showed the worst performance and immunity. The results of this experiment suggest that these herbs infusions did not favor the performance of broiler chickens

Thyme oil (Thyme vulgaris L.) as a natural growth promoter for broiler chickens reared under hot climate

“…In addition, Feizi et al (2013) showed that TO improved growth performance and reduced the mortality of broilers. On the other hand, Hosseini et al (2013) and Fallah and Mirzaei (2016) concluded that thyme powder at 1, 1.5 and 5 g/kg diet did not affect the growth performance of broilers, and the hot water extracted thyme administered at 5g/l did not affect the growth performance of broilers during 1-21 days of age (Sadeghi et al 2012). Another study with broilers indicated that, thyme extract added at 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6% to the broiler diet did not affect BWG, feed intake and FCR during 1-42 days of age (Pourmahmoud et al 2013;Hady et al 2016).…”

Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Spirulina (Arthrospira Platensis) and Thyme (Thymus Vulgaris) on Serum Biochemistry, Immune Response and Antioxidant Status of Rabbits

“…There are some contradictory results about the effect of thyme on immune function but none of them in mammals (Sadeghi et al, 2012;Toghyani et al, 2010Toghyani et al, , 2011. In our study with rabbits supplementation of thyme powder did not influence antibody production.…”

Use of black pepper, cinnamon and turmeric as feed additives in the poultry industry

“…Higher dressing percentages (57%) were observed when broilers were given feed supplemented with turmeric powder (Durrani et al, 2006). Additionally studies have shown that relative gizzard weight was not affected by turmeric or essential cinnamon oil (Hernandez et al, 2004;Durrani et al, 2006;Sadeghi et al, 2011). Additionally studies have shown that relative gizzard weight was not affected by turmeric or essential cinnamon oil (Hernandez et al, 2004;Durrani et al, 2006;Sadeghi et al, 2011).…”