Waste ‘Nagpur Orange’ Peel Essential Oil for Improved Performance, Gut Health and Immune Response in Broiler Chicken: In Vivo Studies

Essential oil with 91.88% limonene extracted from waste Nagpur orange peels using indigenously designed and patented extraction mechanism was used to investigate effect of its supplementation on performance, immune response and gut health in broilers. 300 chicks (VenCobb-430) were distributed in 5 groups having 15 chicks per replicate using completely randomized design. The diet was formulated as per BIS (2007) standards for control, while antibiotic was added in T 1 @ 500 g/ton and orange peel essential oil (OPEO) @ 50, 100, 150 g/ton were added in T 2 , T 3 and T 4 respectively. The cumulative feed intake, body weights and FCR for overall period was significantly improved (P 0.05); while Lipid peroxidase (LPO) increased significantly (P 0.05); while globulin improved significantly (P