Background: Recently, attention has been paid to using plants with medicinal efficacy as alternates to antibiotics and growth promoters. Garlic is a traditional plants used as a spice and herb in broilers.
Aim: The objective of the current feeding trial was to investigate the effect of garlic powder on broiler performance, carcass characteristics, blood hematology and biochemistry.
Method: A total of 240 one-day-old broiler chicks (Cobb500) were purchased from local hatchery and randomly distributed into four dietary treatments. Each treatment comprised of five replicates with 12 chicks each. Garlic powder (Allium sativum) was supplemented as follows: 0.0%, 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%. The diets were formulated to be approximately isocaloric and cover all nutrients requirements for broiler throughout two stages of growth periods, starter diets (1 - 21) and finisher diets (22 - 42) days. At the end of the experiment, one bird was chosen from each replicate to measure the carcass characteristics and blood was collected.
Results: The findings showed that birds fed diet supplemented by 0.3% garlic powder was significantly (P
Key words: garlic, broiler, growth, carcass characteristics, hematology
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