Effect of oregano essential oil as a diet supplement on the productive performance and meat quality of broiler chickens.

This research was conducted to determine the effect of oregano essential oil added to the diet of broilers on body weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and on the chemical composition of meat and liver. For this purpose, two groups of one-day old broiler chickens Ross 308, a control group (CG) and an experimental group (EG) were raised for 42 days. In the experimental group, 1% of oregano essential oil was added to the standard diet, dissolved in vegetable oil and mixed with the administered diet. The live body weight (LBW) of the chickens at 42 days was higher in the control group (2099.69±29.56 g) compared to that of the experimental group (1972.23±42.20 g). The total feed consumption of the control group was 4393.62 g per bird, higher in comparison with the experimental group, which registered 4067.45 g per bird. The feed conversion indices of 2.14 (CG) and 2.11 (EG), favouring the experimental group. With regards to the chemical composition of meat and liver, a higher proportion of dry matter was recorded in the samples collected from breast and thighs musculature and liver of experimental group of chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]