Effects of natural blend of essential oil on growth performance, blood biochemistry, cecal morphology, and carcass quality of broiler chickens.

The study evaluated the effect of a novel commercial preparation of natural blend of essential oils from basil, caraway, laurel, lemon, oregano, sage, tea, and thyme (Tecnaroma Herbal Mix PL) on growth performance, blood biochemistry, cecal morphology, and carcass quality of broilers. Six nutritionally adequate wheat and soybean-based diets were generated by the addition of Tecnaroma Herbal Mix PL at 0, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 g/t of feed. The diets were fed as crumbs in the starter phase (d 0–10) and as pellets during the grower (d 10–24) and finisher (d 24–42) phases. Nine hundred sixty 1-d-old chicks were allocated to the 6 dietary treatments each having 8 replicate pens with 20 birds per pen. The data obtained were analyzed using ANOVA with a P < 0.05 level of significance. Birds fed diets supplemented with Tecnaroma Herbal Mix PL had significantly heavier BW and higher (P < 0.05) weight gain and had improved (P < 0.05) feed to gain ratio compared with the control group during grower phase and overall performance. The blood biochemistry results showed no differences (P > 0.05) between treatments. The carcass weight, breast weight, and relative percentage of breast meat increased (P < 0.05) when diets were supplemented with Tecnaroma Herbal Mix PL compared with that from birds fed the control diet. The inclusion level of 300 g of Tecnaroma Herbal Mix PL/t of feed was optimum for enhancing breast meat yield and nutrient utilization as indicated by increased (P < 0.05) cecal villus surface area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]