Highly effective dietary inclusion of laurel (Laurus nobilis) leaves on productive traits of broiler chickens

Abstract

Laurel leaves characterized with interesting antioxidant effects, which have often used to improve the immunity with positive consequences on growth and performance This study was conducted to assess the effect of adding crushed laurel leaves to the diet on the productive traits of broiler chickens. A total of 180 broiler chickens, were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments, with a rate of 45 birds per treatment; each treatment consisted of three replicates. The first treatment, or control, was generated without adding laurel leaves to the diet, second, third, and fourth treatments were generated by adding laurel leaves with amounts of 1, 2, and 3 g kg-1 feed, respectively. Nine productive traits were evaluated in this study, including the average of live body weight, weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, percentage of mortality, productive index, length of the villus, depth of crypts, and villus length/crypts length ratio. Results indicated that the addition of laurel leaves led to a significant improvement in all productive traits, signifying highly essential participation of laurel leaves to enhance growth and performance. In conclusion, it can be stated that adding 3 g kg-1 of crushed laurel leaves to the diet can improve the productive traits of broiler chickens.

Study of the Productivity Response to Adding Different Levels of Chenopodium quinoa Seed Powder to the Ration and Vitamin C to the Drinking Water of Broilers

“…One of the most important challenges facing the poultry industry is the search for natural additives to water and feed in order to improve the productive efficiency of poultry especially when the European Union 2006 banned the use of antibiotics that stimulate the growth of the diseases that afflict him [1] This led researchers to produce derivatives of some plants and use them in treatments while others turned to use medicinal plants because they contain natural chemicals that have proven their ability to improve productivity physiological and immune traits in broilers such as lemongrass leaves [2], and Bay leaves [3], as well as many medicinal plants that were used as growth stimulants in animal diets [4], so the seeds of Chenopodium quinoa were selected As one of the medicinal plants for its strong antioxidant activities and nutritional properties as a vital precursor that promotes growth and improves the health status because it contains many effective compounds such as phytoecdysteroids phytosterols and saponins and phytic acid [5], and essential fatty acids such as linoleic oleic and palmitic acid [6] As well as containing amino acids such as tyrosine and arginine and mineral elements such as iron 1060 (2022) 012058 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1060/1/012058 2 calcium phosphorous and zinc [7] In addition to its role in improving the coefficient of digestion [8] Quinoa is a food crop similar to grain and has a higher nutritional value compared to other grains and is an excellent source of fiber 10% which is much higher than that of wheat 27% maize 17% and rice 04% [9], As for vitamin C or ascorbic acid it is considered a water soluble vitamin with little solubility in organic solvents It is relatively stable in its dry crystalline form In natural conditions poultry does not need to add it due to the ability of their bodies to form it from glucose sugar But it was observed that the level of vitamin C decreases in the blood intestines and liver when birds are exposed to stress but it is an antioxidant where vitamin C increases the birds' resistance to some " bacterial and viral diseases and thus " reduces " the " percentage " of " fatalities [10] Research has shown that vitamin C acts as an antioxidant and is involved in many vital processes in the body especially for broilers This may be due to the role of vitamin C in the manufacture and regulation of the secretion of corticosteroid hormones from the adrenal cortex [11], and because the synthesis of vitamin C is insufficient in newly hatched chicks as well as birds bred under stress conditions it was necessary to add it to drinking water to provide the required needs of it to reduce the negative impact of its deficiency in the body [12] and because quinoa is an important nutrient and there is no local study on its use in poultry feeding this plant was chosen with the aim of knowing " the effect of adding " it at " different levels to the " broiler's " diet " as a natural antioxidant and comparing it with the synthetic antioxidant Vitamin C on production performance and knowing the best concentration Which we can recommend to poultry breeders .…”