The effects of dietary antibiotic and anise oil supplementation on body weight, carcass characteristics and organoleptic analysis of meat in broilers

Abstract

In this study, the effects of dietary antibiotic (avilamycin) and anise oil supplementation on broilers body weight, including carcass characteristics and organoleptic analysis of meat were investigated. Two hundred, five days old broiler chicks (Ross-308) were divided into five groups of 40. These five groups were fed the basal diet (Control) or the basal diet supplemented with 100 ppm of anise oil (A 100), 200 ppm of anise oil (A200) 400 ppm of anise oil (A400) and 0.1 % of avilamycin (Antibiotic). The mean body weight of A400 (2572.25 g) group was higher than Antibiotic group (2414.40 g) at the end of the treatment (4011 day) (P<0.05). Besides, mean bodyweight of Antibiotic group was different from those of A 100 (2299.95 g), A200 (2296.4 g) and Control group (2255.50 g) (P<0.05). Carcass characteristics showed differences among groups at gizzard ratio (P<0.01), liver, wings ratio, hot and cold carcass yield (P<0.05). The meat belong to A400 group was the better than the others according to results of the organoleptic analysis (P<0.05). In conclusion, the results of this study showed that anise oil, at a dose of 400 ppm, can be used as an alternative to antibiotic for growth promotion in broiler diets.