Efficacy of Different Blends of Essential Oils on Growth Performance, Blood Metabolites, Gut Microflora, and Meat Quality of Broilers

Background: The application of phytogenic additives in the form of essential oils have attracted considerable attention in poultry industry. OBJECTIVES: An experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of the blends of essential oils (EO) isolated from some medicinal plants including savory, thyme, fennel and rosemary on performance, blood metabolites, intestinal microflora, and meat quality of broilers. METHODS: Two hundred 1-day-old broilers were randomly allocated to 5 treatments with 4 replicates of 10 chicks. The dietary treatments included 1) NC (negative control; without EO), 2) PC (positive control; 300 mg commercial EO of oregano/kg diet), 3) SR (300 mg EOs of savory and rosemary/kg diet), 4) SRT (300 mg EOs of savory, rosemary and thyme/kg diet), 5) SRTF (300 mg EOs of savory, rosemary, thyme and fennel/kg diet). RESULTS: Neither PC nor combinations of EOs affected growth performance of broilers. Serum cholesterol reduced (P