Etlik piliç rasyonlarına farklı düzeylerde ticari bitkisel ekstrakt karışımı eklenmesinin performans, et kalitesi ve ayak tabanı yangısı üzerine etkileri

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of graded dietary levels of a phytogenic feed additive (PFA) on growth performance, meat quality, and footpad dermatitis (FPD) in broilers. Four hundred eighty, one-day-old male broiler (Ross 308) were assigned to four experimental groups, each consisting of 8 replicate pens (15 chicks per each replicate pen). Corn-soybean meal based basal diet was formulated for starter, grower, and finisher, fed to the control group (without supplementation). Basal diets were supplemented with PFA at 100 mg/kg (PFA100), 125 mg/kg (PFA125), and 150 mg/kg (PFA150) levels, respectively. One bird was slaughtered from each pen at the end of experiment. Meat quality parameters including pH, color (L*, a*, b*), drip loss, and cooking loss were measured on d 42 at slaughter, 24-h and 72-h post-slaughter, respectively. Intestinal viscosity and litter moisture were measured on d 42. All the birds were subjected to FPD scoring on d 21 and 42 of the experiment. Feed intake, BW gain, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not different among the dietary treatments throughout the study. Dietary PFA supplementation had no significant effect on meat quality of broilers at slaughtering and 24-h post-slaughter. Dietary PFA supplementation did not affect the intestinal viscosity, litter moisture, and FPD score in broilers. It can be hypothesized that the inability of PFAs to enhance the feed intake, BW gain, and FCR corresponds to many factors primarily due to the variations in the concentration of active biomolecules among the individual plants that leads to the failure to attain the exact inclusion level in the poultry diets. Although none of the addition levels were helpful in improving the growth performance, meat quality, and in decreasing the FPD score, more research is needed to set the optimum dietary levels of blending these compounds for their prospective use in broiler nutrition.