EFFECT OF MINT AND FENUGREEK AND MIXTURE ON PRODUCTION AND IMMUNITY OF BROILERS

Abstract

This study conducted to determine the effect of dietary mint, fenugreek and combination on productive and immune parameters of broiler chicks (Ross308).A total of 80 broiler chicks of one day old have been reared for 35 day under good hygienic condition .The chicks were randomly divided into four groups :Treatment 1 (Mint 1%) ,Treatment 2 (fenugreek 1% ) ,Treatment 3 (Mint 1%+ fenugreek 1%) & Treatment 4(Control), each of one have 2o chicks with 2 replicate for each treatment .the addition of dry leaves of Mint and fenugreek started at one day until end of experiment, while the control group given the standard feed only .the productive parameters are measured weekly, and immune status of chicks are measured at 21 and 35 day by ELISA technique. The results have appeared that there is an improvement in performance and immunity traits for all treated groups if compared with the control group. However, the chicks feed with 1% mint and 1% fenugreek performed better than those fed with others concerning live body weight and body weight gain. with regards to feed consumption, the first treatment that supplemented with 1% mint achieved better one.the second treatment that supplemented with 1% fenugreek recorded high antibody titter against Newcastle disease virus and Gumboro disease virus at 21 and 35 day of broilers age . from these results we can say that the dietary addition of herbs will improve the production and immunity in broiler chicks .