EFFECT OF DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION WITH DIFFERING LEVELS OF PROPOLIS ON PRODUCTIVITY AND BLOOD PARAMETERS IN BROILER CHICKS

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of adding propolis powder to the diet on productive , carcass characteristics and blood parameters in broiler chicks. Total of 180 1- day- old chicks were distributed randomly among four dietary treatments ofpropolis 0 , 0.5 , 1.5 and 2.5 g/kg diets . Each treatment was contain three replicate (15 birds / pen ). The results revealed that propolis supplementation at levels of 0.5 and 1.5 g/kg significantly (p<0.05) improved final body weight, weight gains and feed conversion ratios during the period from 15 to 28 days and the accumulative period (1-28 days of age) . However, there was no significant difference among treatment in feed intake. There were no significant difference in carcass yield, in relative weights of liver , gizzard, heart , spleen , bursa of fabricius, in relative weight and length of the intestine ,cecum , in carcass length at the end of the study. However , chicks fed 2.5 g / Kgpropolis had significant (p<0.05) reduction in total serum protein and albumin while increases in cholesterol and glucose levels as compared with the other treatments . These result indicate that supplementary propolis powder at 0.5 and 1.5 % had beneficial effects on productive traits but no significant effect on carcass characteristics or the hematological parameters examined in broiler chicks.