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

Nihad Abdul-Lateef Ali,Mohammed Baqur Sahib Al-Shuhaib

doi:10.4025/actascianimsci.v43i1.52198

Nihad Abdul-Lateef Ali, Mohammed Baqur Sahib Al-Shuhaib

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4025/actascianimsci.v43i1.52198

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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.

Highlights

The involvement of a large spectrum of known medicinal plants in the diet of poultry is attributed to the presence of a high antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and antidiarrheal effects of many compounds included within these powders (Zeng, Zhang, Wang, & Piao, 2015; Ahmad et al, 2017)
A series of variable medicinal plant resources have recently been utilized in poultry diet to improve the feeding strategy and its consequent growth performance, such as ginkgo biloba leaves (Zhang et al, 2013), moringa leaves (Mahfuz & Piao, 2019), white tea leaves (Ali, Fadhil, Imad, & Al-Nassry, 2019), morinda (Diarra, Amosa, & Lameta, 2019), or mixed proportions of these medicinal supplements (Aroche et al, 2018)
The effect of adding crushed laurel leaves in the diet on the average of weekly feed consumption for broiler chickens showed no significant differences between all treatments during the first week of the chick’s age

Summary

Introduction

A series of variable medicinal plant resources have recently been utilized in poultry diet to improve the feeding strategy and its consequent growth performance, such as ginkgo biloba leaves (Zhang et al, 2013), moringa leaves (Mahfuz & Piao, 2019), white tea leaves (Ali, Fadhil, Imad, & Al-Nassry, 2019), morinda (Diarra, Amosa, & Lameta, 2019), or mixed proportions of these medicinal supplements (Aroche et al, 2018) One of these highly important medicinal plants is Laurus nobilis or bay laurel. Leaves growing on the Bay tree, which is called sweet bay tree or Grecian tree, which has been characterized by olive-like fruits that can be distinguished with its unique dark brown color with clusters forms It is classified as an evergreen herbal medicinal plant belonging to the Lauraceae family, where it is used in treating gastrointestinal diseases and stomach ulcers (Kivcak & Mert, 2002).

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