Growth performance and gut health parameters of finishing broilers supplemented with plant extracts and exposed to daily increased temperature

The effects of three plant extracts, i.e. lemon peel extract (LPE), orange peel extract (OPE) and Curcuma xanthorrhiza essential oil (CXEO), on the performance and gut health parameters of broilers exposed to high temperature was investigated. A total of 336 unsexed Ross 308 broilers were distributed to seven dietary treatments, a control diet and six diets containing 200 or 400 mg kg-1 feed of one of the three products between d 25-38 (12 chicks per pen, four replicates). To induce chronic heat stress, the temperature was increased to 34°C with 50% relative humidity for 5 h daily starting from d 28 until d 38. At d 38, four animals per pen were sampled for morphological characteristics (duodenum, jejunum and ileum) and microbial counts (ileo-cecal contents). Plant extracts did not affect the bird performance. The bursa weight of the control birds was lower (p